Clean Slate
by KayKayeLLe
Summary: Mary goes back to GlenOak for Christmas with Wilson, and tries to get Billy back while attempting to overcome hostility from her family. slightly violent
1. Chapter 1

***Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to Brenda Hampton and Aaron Spelling.

**Clean Slate**

In Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, there is a knock at the door of the condo recently rented by Mary Camden. Its 2:30 in the afternoon, and she is upset that someone is brothering her on her first day off in over 5 weeks. She wonders who it could be, seeing as she only gave her address to Robbie, and gave him strict instructions that it should only be used to write to her.

They knock once more, and Mary scrambles to answer the door. "Just a second!" Without even thinking, she checks herself in the mirror, running her fingers through her hair, before she reaches for the doorknob. The person on the other end can hear her fiddling with the lock, before the door finally swings open.

"Hey Mary."

"Wilson?! Oh my gosh! Uh, what are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"Well, I called your house and begged your father for the address."

"Wow. Why? Oh, I'm so sorry, where are my manners? Please, come inside." She says to him, her heart beating faster and faster.

Mary is astonished that the mere sight of Wilson's sexy body still makes her weak in the knees. She also couldn't help but notice that Wilson had suitcases with him. _Great, just great. This place is a mess. And what if he plans on staying? All I have in here is a kitchen table, T.V., and one bed. I don't even have a couch!_

As Mary curses herself for not buying the futon she saw on sale at the furniture store a week and a half ago, she and Wilson sit down at her kitchen the table on the only chairs in the whole place.

"Wait a minute, where's Billy? Or better yet, why isn't Billy with you?"

"That's kind of a long story. Let me start from the beginning."

"Ok." Mary says apprehensively. She did not like the sound in his voice. It made her uneasy. That was because not only was it a tone of annoyance, it was one of fearfulness. She had never seen Wilson frightened; not once in all the six years she had known him. He was always the strong one, levelheaded, never making a big deal over anything. Mary got the feeling that this was a big deal.

Wilson shakes his head in shame. "My whole life has fallen apart, literally crumbled around me. And now that I think of it, it all started with you."

"Me?"

"I never should have let you slip away."

"What about Corey?"

"Corey and I were never meant to be together. We got together out of common misfortunes, not love."

Mary gives him a sympathetic look.

"Everything's such a mess from when I last saw you. First I lost you, then my job, and now Billy."

Mary is confused. "What do you mean you lost Billy?"

"Well Brittany's parents found out somehow that I had lost my job. They came over one day, unannounced, to see if Billy wanted to go back with them to their house, without me. He didn't want to, and I didn't want him to either. I mean, I'm not opposed to him knowing them, but not like that, not under those circumstances."

Mary nods.

"Well when I asked them about maybe rescheduling or something, they started mumbling some stuff about me not being able to provide for Billy and their "grandparental" rights. Next thing I knew, I got a letter in the mail form their lawyer saying that Billy has to spend time with them, that they are entitled to some sort of custody."

"My gosh!"

"Of course I refused, because they were being ridiculous, and Billy said he didn't want to see them either. They ended up taking me to court, and now they have Billy for 7 and a half months." Wilson's eyes begin to fill up with tears.

Mary has never seen him act like this before, not even during their many talks about Billy's mother, Brittany. "Wow. But you can't just let them do that. You're going to try and get him back, aren't you?"

"I've talked to two lawyers, and they both say that there's nothing I can do."

"Well, uh, maybe I can call my dad. He should be able to do something."

"Didn't your father just have open heart surgery?"

"Oh yeah, that's right. So maybe he won't be able to help. Um, I can help. I'll do anything I can."

"Thanks, but I really don't think there is anything you can do for me."

"Oh, um, ok." Mary says sounding defeated. "So besides all of that, why are you here? What are you doing in Florida?"

"I called my old company, and they told me that might have work for me here, so I came down."

"Oh."

"But…"

"But?"

"I don't really have a place to stay. And I was hoping, if it wouldn't be to weird for you…"

Mary thinks this over for a second. It would be a little _uncomfortable_, to say the least, but something inside of her doesn't want Wilson to leave. "Of course you can stay here. How could I say no to you?"

"Thanks, I knew I could count on you."

"Well, we go way back." Mary pauses for a second, and then continues hesitantly. "There's kind of a little problem."

"What?"

"Well, I only have one bed."

"I figured that. The couch, anything, would be fine. If I'm putting you out I guess I could go to a motel."

"You're not. It's just that, well, the chair's we're sitting in are it."

"Oh." Wilson says, slightly disappointed.

Mary thinks for a while. She is aware of the only option, but is reluctantly to suggest it to Wilson. She decides to mention it anyways, hoping it would help her "feel him out".  "Well, um, I do have a queen sized bed."

"What are you implying?" Wilson asks, secretly excited.

"We are adults. We could share the bed…"

"We could…"

They both laugh at themselves.

"Its only 2:45." Mary says. "We have some time to think about it."

The two of them talk for a while, steering clear of the topic of relationships.  Before they know it, it is 6 o'clock, and they both are starting to get hungry.

"Well, I don't really have much food. We could go get a pizza, my treat."

"Sounds good to me," Wilson replies. "Thanks."

"It's the least I could do. I mean, you've been through so much."

"What do you mean the least you can do? You're letting me stay with you for a little while, and you don't owe me anything."


	2. Chapter 2

***

They go to the pizza parlor, and order a plain pie. When the pizza arrives, the young waitress sets it down in front of them. Without thinking, they both reach at the same moment for the same slice of pizza. Their hands touch, and both are reluctant to pull away, lingering for more than a few seconds on the smooth skin of the other's hand. After a little while, they realize what they are doing, and both pull away quickly, neither of them taking the slice. Mary smiles to herself, remembering how nice it is to be with him. 

"So…um…" Wilson laughs nervously. "You and Ben…"

"Broke up."

Wilson smiles, but quickly realizes that and wipes it away.

"Actually, that's kind of what brought me here. I broke up with him, and started dating this other guy to get back at him. Only, he was 51 years old."

Wilson's eyes widened.

"Well, I told myself that it was to get back at Ben, but it really was to get back at my family. And well, there are no Camdens in Florida. You understand, don't you?"

The funny thing is, Wilson does understand. Even the vague story she gave him, with tons of details left out, he understands. The two of them have this strange connection, and even tough they haven't seen each other for over 10 months, it is still as strong as it ever was.

***

After the small incident at the pizza place, Mary more attracted to Wilson than ever. The whole car ride back to her condo, all she could think about was kissing him, just one more time. Now, they are both getting ready for bed, discreetly. They had slept, literally slept, together before, but not as long as a whole night's worth.

They crawl in, both staying on their own sides of the bed.

"Well…um…good night." Mary says.

"Night." He says, rolling over, his back now facing hers. 

In the middle of the night, Mary starts to toss and turn in her sleep. She pondered the idea of possibly getting back together with Wilson all night, awake and asleep. Mary rolls over, onto Wilson's side of the bed, still asleep, and puts her arm around him. She moves once again, placing her head on his chest. Wilson subconsciously knows she is there, although he is still asleep, and places his hand on her back. They stay like that for the rest of the night.

In the morning, Mary wakes up first. She realizes the position that she is in, and her initial reaction is to move off of him as unnoticeably as possible. But then she thinks, "Hey, why should I move? He isn't even awake yet. I'll just pretend to be asleep and I can enjoy lying here for a little longer." She closes her eyes once again, and rests for a bit longer in top of Wilson.

Wilson awakens nearly a half hour later, and Mary gets nervous. "Oh, great. Should I move?" She thinks to herself as she can feel Wilson wake up. "Too late now. Maybe I can just pretend I'm asleep."

Wilson raises his head off of the pillow and looks down at Mary on his chest. He is confused, but smiles anyways at the sight of it. He decides to shake her gently, to see if she will wake up. As he does that, Mary stirs, trying her best to appear as though she is just waking for the first time this morning. Wilson could tell that Mary was already awake, especially by her fake yawn, but says nothing.

"Oh my gosh!" Mary says, sounding very phony. She sits up, and scoots away from Wilson. "I'm so sorry."

"That's OK, really. It reminds me of good times." At that, they both smile, remembering all of the happy moments they had shared together, which out weighed the few bad by a long shot.

They get up and go into the kitchen to get breakfast. Mary takes two plates out of the cabinet. She turns around to face Wilson, handing him the plates.

"Could you put these on the table for me?"

Wilson takes the plates, slightly brushing Mary's hand. He stops, plates still in his hands, and stares at Mary. She stares back at him, looking deep into his eyes. She desperately wanted to be with Wilson- get back together with him just one more time. 

After a few seconds, which seem like an eternity for the two, Wilson slowly leans in to kiss Mary. She sees him do this, and she closes her eyes expectantly. The kiss is innocent, almost as though they were kissing each other for the first time.

Their lips part, and Wilson begins to pull away. Mary does not let him do so- she will not let him get away again. She grabs his face into her hands and presses her lips against his. Wilson neither objects nor stops Mary from doing this. He kisses her back, with the same force she is using. As they continue to make out, Wilson places the dishes on the table, never parting from Mary.

After 20 minutes, they part from one another, and look down at the floor, almost in shame. Mary smiles happily to herself, and Wilson does the same. Minutes later, Mary works up the courage to speak.

"Wow…that was, um…"

"Yeah…" Wilson answers.

They both laugh nervously.

"OK, so now what? Should we talk?" Mary asks.

"Yeah, we should."

They both sit down at the table. Neither of them says anything to each other, both at a loss for words. Wilson chooses his words very carefully, planning exactly what he is going to say down to the syllable.

"If you want me to leave, I'll go."

"No, I don't want you to leave. Stay, please. Don't go. I'm so lonely here; I need you."

"Whoa. I wasn't expecting that. Well, actually I've been pretty lonely, too. I could use some company right about now."

"You're more than welcome to stay as long as you like."

Wilson smiles, but quickly wipes it away. "I hope that kiss doesn't make things weird between us. Because if it does, I could…uh, take it back."

"You can't take back a kiss. I would have taken back kissing Ben last January if I could have." Mary pauses and grabs Wilson's hand. "That whole thing with Ben was huge mistake- kissing him, getting together with him, all of it. I never wanted to be with him. I love you, I still do."

"But that's why we broke up in the first place. Everything that doesn't turn out just right for you ends up being a big mistake with you. It wasn't that I didn't want to be with you anymore Mary, it was that I couldn't take that. I kept thinking, 'What's going to be next?'"

"Oh," Mary says crushed. "Well, I guess I can't argue with that. I have been immature in the past. But I'm different now, even I notice the difference."

"If you're so different, then why did you flee to Florida?"

"I didn't flee! I-I ran away, which is a lot like fleeing. But I left because I wanted to be on my own for a while. If I did flee from anything, which I didn't, I fled from all of the other Camdens. I'm lost; I don't feel like I'm one of them anymore. I'm a stranger in my own family. Come to think of it, I never considered myself to be like them. They're all…one way…and I'm, well…a different way."

"Were you going to say that they're good and you're not? Because if you were, you couldn't be more wrong Mary. You're a wonderful person, a good person, and I feel like I've failed as an ex-boyfriend and a friend in general if you can't see that about yourself after all of the time we've spent together."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I love you, and I only want the best for those I love."

"You-you love me?"

"Yes, I love you Mary. I'm crazy about you, or I'm just plain crazy I haven't determined which yet."

Mary laughs at Wilson's comment. "I love you too."


	3. Chapter 3

Three and a half months later, Mary and Wilson fly back to Glenoak for Christmas, one week early. Mary has off from now until 2 days after Christmas, putting in for that time slot practically right after she got the job. Over this time period, Mary and Wilson decided to start dating again. The two of them are closer than they ever were. Wilson even convinced Mary to call her family, and she has started talking with all 7 of them once a week, plus Robbie, Matt and Sarah every so often.  They have even been living together in the condo, sort of splitting the rent. Wilson found a job, not with his old company, but Mary thinks there is something odd about it. She feels an air of impermanence surrounding it, like their situation could change at any moment.

Billy is still with his mother's parents, and Wilson is really starting to miss him. That's one of the reasons they are spending the holiday with Mary's parents, to use the chaos of the Camden household to distract him. Billy means so much to Wilson, and he is upset that he doesn't have him for Christmas. Wilson has tried several times to reason with Brittany's parents, just to be able to get him for this one day, but they wouldn't have it. That upset Wilson even more; Billy is his life. He is the only one who has stuck by Wilson, through everything, for almost 7 years. Even Mary couldn't say she had done that.

The one thing that scared Mary, though, was the fact that her family was unaware of the fact that she and Wilson were living together. She was afraid they wouldn't approve, or jump to a wrong conclusion, or something along those lines. Mary knows she should have told them by now, but she never seemed to find the right moment to bring it up.

Mary and Wilson get off the plane, gather their luggage, and take a cab to the Camden residence. The whole ride there, they couldn't keep their hands off one another. They held hands, squeezed each other's knees, kissed the other's cheeks, just like a bunch of newly weds. Nonetheless, Wilson spirits seem to have risen, and Mary is glad. She hates it when he's depressed; it breaks her heart.

They arrive at the house, and try to sneak in through the back door. That is, of course, to no avail. Annie is in the kitchen with the twins, getting them an afternoon snack.  

"Mary! You're here! Oh, and Wilson!" Annie shrieks. "I haven't seen you both in ages, let alone together." Annie embraces her daughter, throwing her arms around her.

"Whatever you do, don't mention Billy. Tell everyone else not to either, please Mom." Mary whispers into her mother's ear so low that her voice is almost inaudible. 

She pulls back from her mother and smiles. Annie is confused, but does the same. Annie goes to greet Wilson when Ruthie bolts into the kitchen.

"Mary!" Ruthie yells, overly excited at her sister's arrival. She runs into Mary's arms, and Mary lifts her slightly off the ground when they hug. 

"Hey Ruthie!"

"I'm so happy you're home. I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you, too."

Ruthie and Mary had become very close through their newfound phone relationship. Lucy was too busy with Kevin, Simon was a guy, Sam and David were too little on carry on a real conversation, and her parents were still her parents, so Mary found herself clinging to Ruthie for family support. So she is only 12, so what? Ruthie still reminded Mary of home, the place she is constantly longing to be, though she won't admit this to herself.

Ruthie has told Mary everything. She gave her the play by play of the goings on of the household, every single detail about her relationship with Jake, school, her friends, the town- more than Mary would have known even if she was still in Glenoak. Mary's even told Ruthie about her relationship with Wilson, a little, but still it is more than anyone else in the family knew. Ruthie was the only one that knew that Billy wouldn't be joining them for Christmas, but she didn't explain to her the whole reason. She told Ruthie this in confidence, and she knew Ruthie wouldn't say anything. And judging by the look on her mother's face before, she hadn't yet. 

The only person who was truly interested with Mary, throwing all of the qualms they had about her out the window, was Ruthie. No one else really seemed to care all that much, and this hurt Ruthie. She would protest sometimes and say that Mary is still their sister like Matt is still their brother, but they rarely found time to listen, let alone think about what she was saying. Sure, they all loved Mary, but deep down inside they were all still angry with her. They all forgave her, but none of the Camdens seemed to adopt a "forgive and forget" policy.

Even Robbie seemed to be mad at Mary when she talked to him. She couldn't help wonder what she had done to make them hate her so much. Was it "dating" Jack? Was it breaking up with Ben? Were they still angry with her about all of the stuff she did the led up to her being asked to leave two years ago? What? What was different now than before she moved to Ft. Lauderdale? 

Hearing all of the commotion in the kitchen, the rest of the house comes in to the kitchen to see what is going on. To Mary's surprise, they all welcome her with open arms. Mary is surrounded by hugs while she tries to see if this is all an act. Mary decided though that even if it was, she wasn't going to let it bother her. This was going to be a good trip, an enjoyable vacation, and a memorable Christmas.

After each person said hello to Mary, they moved over and greeted Wilson. All of them, that is, except for Kevin. Kevin stood in the corner, behind the group of people gathered around the couple, not saying anything. He appeared to be taking in everything near him, assessing the situation using his police skills Mary found so annoying. Mary knew this would probably be difficult, but she didn't think Kevin would make it this hard.

"Hi, um, Kevin." She says to him after the rest of the family had left. 

"Hello Mary."

"Kevin, I, uh, would like you to meet Wilson."

Wilson smiles and extends his hand for Kevin to shake, but he has the audacity to not accept it. Wilson puts his arm back at his side when he realizes this, and Mary grabs his hand to let him know that it was OK. Wilson knew why Kevin would not take his hand, because Wilson replaced his brother. Mary may keep things from her family, but not from Wilson. Wilson knew all about her relationship with Ben, how his old girlfriend came back, how she stayed with him longer than she wanted to because Kevin moved into the house, how her dad put her on the spot when she walked through the door that night, the whole shebang. Lucy realizes what Kevin is doing and elbows his side. She glares up at him, muttering "Be nice" under her breath.

"I'm sorry. I should be nicer to you, it's not your fault. " Now, Kevin extends his hand, and Wilson shakes it, wondering what wasn't his fault.

Mary, knowing Wilson too well, asks the question out loud. "What isn't his fault?"

"That you broke Ben's heart."

Lucy elbows Kevin once more. "Stop. Lets go." She says to him, tugging at his arm.

"No, I don't have to go. I want to meet this guy."

"You met him already, you shook his hand, let's go."

"I broke up with Ben nearly four months before I got back together with Wilson."

"But you used Ben to get over Wilson."

"I did not, and even if I did I guess it didn't work very well."

Kevin glares back at her.

"Look Kevin, Ben is back with his old girlfriend, I'm back with Wilson, and Ben and I haven't spoken since September, so can't we just drop it?"

Kevin gives Mary a harsh look, and then walks out of the kitchen without another word.

"I'm so sorry Wilson. I don't know what's gotten into him. He usually isn't like this." Lucy apologizes for her boyfriend.

"Its OK, I understand." Wilson says.

Lucy smiles politely, and then leaves the kitchen. 

"He doesn't get a long with Robbie or Ruthie very well either. The only one of us he really likes is Lucy."

"Well I would hope so." Wilson says smiling.

Mary gives him a look that says "not funny", before beginning again. "Don't take it personally."

"I'll try to remember that." He says, grabbing her hand. "So, I gather we're not staying in the same room together."

"Probably not. Let's go ask where they're putting us so we can at least put our stuff down."

Wilson kisses Mary at the end of the sentence. "You're beautiful Mary."

Mary face turns bright red. "Why thank you. You're not too bad looking yourself." She counters, finishing by kissing him on the cheek.

The pair walks upstairs with their bags to find Annie or Eric. Mary finds her father in his bedroom, and knocks on the door. He comes out, and she asks them where they're being stationed for the next 9 days.

"Um, well let's see. Mary, you're going to be in your old bed." She nods. "And Wilson, um, would you mind being in one room for the time being, then switching on Christmas Eve when Matt and Sarah join us?"

"No, not at all."

"Great. You'll be in Robbie's room for now, Mary and Lucy's old room," he says pointing down the hall, "and when Matt and Sarah come then you'll move to Simon's room."

"Thanks Sir." Wilson says.

"Yeah, thanks Dad."

"No problem you two. It's nice to see you together again. You were definitely one of my favorites, son."

Wilson laughs. "Thanks."

Wilson and Mary knock on Robbie's door, and Robbie opens it.

"Did you know that Wilson is using your room?"

"Yeah, I know. I'll be out in five minutes."

"No, don't rush. You don't have to be out until tonight as long as he can put his bags down in here."

"Sure." Robbie answers, moving so that he is no longer blocking the doorway. 

Wilson puts his bags inside, then helps Mary take hers up to the attic. They enter the room, and are happily surprised to see that neither Ruthie nor Lucy were in it at the moment. Mary closes the door behind them, and sits down on the bed, pulling Wilson down with her. She kisses Wilson, and they start to make out. They kiss for two minutes until Mary can sense that Wilson's heart isn't behind it. She stops and looks into his eyes.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Don't lie to me Wilson."

"I'm ok, really."

They kiss again, but Mary quickly stops because she has something on her mind. "I didn't tell them yet. I wasn't sure if you wanted me to or not. Well actually, I take that back. I did tell one person- Ruthie. She hasn't told anyone though, I'm sure of it."

"Ok."

"I still think my dad can help. He could make a phone call, or talk to them or something. You need help, and if you don't want to ask for it I'll do it for you."

"I don't need help, Billy does."

Mary smiles and puts her hand on Wilson's back. "I know baby, I know."

"I don't want your father fighting my battles for me. I'm a man, I can do things for myself. "

"I'm well aware that you're a man." Mary says, raising an eyebrow. "But we still have to tell my parents."

"I know, but not right now. Maybe after dinner…"

"OK."

"…because right now…" Wilson kisses Mary with the same passion she was using before, making up for not being fully into it a few minutes ago. Wilson lies back onto the bed beneath them, bringing Mary on top of him. They're hands roam the others bodies, staying in check the whole time. Mary runs her fingers through Wilson's hair, as his hands go from her shoulders down her side to rest on her hips.


	4. Chapter 4

As they continue, Ruthie walks into the room, and looks around for something. She eventually notices Mary and Wilson, and rolls her eyes, but still smiles, happy that Mary is really back. Ruthie coughs to let them know she is in the room, and they quickly sit up, both of them embarrassed. 

"Um, Mary have you seen my hairbrush? Its purple."

"Uh…" Mary looks around the room. "is that it over there?" she says pointing to the desk.

"Yeah, thanks."

"You weren't sent up here to check on us, were you?"

"No, I really just wanted to brush my hair. Jake is coming over soon."

"Jake is Ruthie's boyfriend." Mary tells Wilson.

"Boyfriend? How old are you?"

"Almost thirteen." 

"Isn't she a little young for a boyfriend?" Wilson whispers to Mary.

"Ruthie is very mature for her age."

"Oh." Wilson says, in a humoring tone of voice. "I see."

"I don't mean to be rude, but I kind of wanting to change." Ruthie says, making reference to her shirt.

"Oh, ok, sure. We'll go."

Mary grabs Wilson's hand, and they leave the room, closing the door behind them. Once down the stairs and into the upstairs hallway, Wilson makes a face.

"What? My parents have met Jake, he's a very nice boy from what I hear. Ruthie is very smart for her age, and my parents have talked with her. And Lucy had a boyfriend when she was 12 and she's not pregnant."

"I know, I know."

"She's just looking to be grown up. She's been the baby of the family for such a long time, and she still is the baby of the older kids. It makes her feel older. She hasn't even kissed him."

"Ok."

"And you have your own problems to worry about, don't stress out over Ruthie."

"I'm not." He says to her.

"Ok."

"So what do you want to do now?"

"Whatever you want to do."

"We could tell my parents that we want to talk to them after dinner."

"Ok." He replies, his whole facial expression turning from playful to sad.

"Look, can I tell you something?"

"Sure."

"I've been wanting to tell you this for a while, but I didn't know whether or not I should."

"Ok…"

"So I'm just going to say it." Mary looks around the hallway to make sure no one is around, grabs Wilson's hands and then continues to speak. "I miss Billy as much as you do. I love that little guy, almost like he was my own son. I just don't want you to think that I don't care about him because I do."

"I don't think that"

"Well I just get this feeling that you think I'm happy Billy's not around. I'm not, I'm just happy you're back in my life."

"I know, I never thought that. I know you care for Billy, but I express my emotions in weird ways. If I made you feel like that I'm sorry, really."

After Wilson finishes his sentence, the doorbell rings, and Ruthie bolts down the stairs to answer the door before her father can get it.

"I remember being like that." Mary says to Wilson.

Two minutes later, Ruthie and Jake walk upstairs. Mary sees Jake look at her funny and smiles.

"Hi Jake, I'm Ruthie's sister Mary. I don't think we've ever been formally introduced."

"Hello."

"And this is my boyfriend Wilson."

Jake turns to Ruthie. "Ruthie, I'm confused. Wasn't she the one who was going out with the old guy?"

"Yeah, but now she's going out with Wilson. He's 24."

"Oh, ok."

"Um…nice to meet you." Wilson says to Jake and shakes his hand.

Ruthie and Jake turn around and go up the stairs into the attic. Remembering what Wilson said before, Mary speaks.

"Uh, Ruthie. Are you and Jake _allowed_ to be alone in your bedroom?"

"He needs to borrow my math textbook, we're going right up to get it and right back down."

"Ok, right back down."

Jake and Ruthie walk up the stairs, as Wilson smirks.

"What?"

"That was positively motherly of you. I thought she was just trying to be grown up?"

"Yeah, but you don't want her to grow up too fast. I guess it's too late for that though. Remember when I first met you? Ruthie wouldn't talk to you because she wasn't allowed to talk to strangers. Now look at her, she has a boyfriend. Everything has changed so much."

"Well change is a good thing."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you've changed. You've gotten even more kind, and sweet, and beautiful."

"Oh yeah? Well you've changed too. You've gotten even more responsible, and considerate, and sexy. You've become perfect."

Their lips meet in a passionate kiss, and Mary starts to get lost in the sensation. She realizes this though, and quickly pulls herself back to the real world. She puts her hand on Wilson's chest, and pulls back from him. "Not in the middle of the hallway. C'mon, let's go find one of my parents."

"Ok, but after that could we go over to my parent's house?"

"Sure."

They go downstairs, and see Annie in the kitchen beginning to prepare dinner. She looks up and sees the two of them coming.

"Hey you two. Mary, did I tell you how happy I am to have you home for Christmas? And Wilson, we are all very happy to see you, too."

"We know Mom. Um…"

Before Mary can finish, her father walks into the kitchen. "Oh, hello."

"Like I was saying," Mary starts again, sounding a little annoyed, "could Wilson and I talk to you both after dinner? We have something to tell you, its kind of important."

Annie and Eric clutch each other's arms quickly. Annie gulps hard. "Ok, dear."

"Wilson and I are going to go over to his parents house for a little while. We'll probably be back in an hour or so." Wilson nods to confirm the time frame. "Ok?"

"Yeah, sure. That's fine."

Mary and Wilson walk out the back door. Wilson continues walking, but Mary stays by the back door, putting her ear to it.

"What are you doing?" Wilson asks her.

"Shh!" she whispers to him, and motions for him to come closer to her.

Mary is listening to Annie and Eric talk inside.

"You don't think she could be…"

"Could be what Eric?"

"Pregnant?"

Mary opens the door and looks her parents in the eye. "No, I'm not pregnant or anything like that, don't worry. Now good bye, we'll be back in an hour."

She closes the door behind her, and walks to her car with Wilson, leaving her parents dumfounded in the kitchen alone.


	5. Chapter 5

Mary and Wilson ring the doorbell of his parent's house. His mother answers the door, and is almost moved to tears when she sees Wilson.

"Honey! What are you doing here?" She asks as she wraps her arms around her son.

"Mary and I flew out to be with her family for Christmas."

"But Christmas is a ways away."

"Its in one week Mom."

"Oh it is? My how time flies."

"Not anymore. Seven and a half months still seems like an eternity to me."

"Oh honey," his mother says, putting her arm on Wilson's shoulder. "Oh, forgive me. Please, come in."

Mrs. West gives them both some coffee, and they sit down in the kitchen. 

Mary felt very uncomfortable sitting here. This was definitely a private family moment. But who knows, maybe things will go right this time and she will end up family after all.

"I'm sorry your father is not home, Wilson. He's working."

"Its OK. We dropped by unannounced." Wilson takes a sip of his coffee. "Have you heard from Brittany's parents at all?"

"No, I haven't. I'm sorry. Have you?"

"Not since the last time I told you about."

"Oh."

There is a long pause. Everyone drinks about 4 or 5 sips of their warm coffee, but Mary is careful not to finish hers, as it provides for an escape. She could always take a sip when she felt like she wanted to bolt from the room.

"So, um, Mary. Wilson tells me you two are living together."

"Yes, we are."

"That's nice. What is it you do again?"

"I'm a flight attendant for Jet Blue airlines."

"Wow, you certainly are brave. I could never do anything like that, I'd be too scared."

"Well, I am not completely at ease it, but things are OK. Airport security is tight, and they implement new security measures on the planes quiet often. I hate to sound so preachy, being a minister's daughter and all, but you have to have faith or else you can't get through the day."

"Oh I agree. That's how I've been getting through my days since they took our little Billy form us. It's all so awful. They want nothing to do with him, or us even for that matter, and then one day they just show up and expect us to hand him over. Its insane."

"That is it." Mary comments. "I miss him too. He was always so clever. Its weird to have Wilson around again without Billy."

"Its weird to have you again without Billy." Wilson says. "He really likes you."

Mary smiles.

"You know, we've being going to your father's church lately, Wilson's father and I." His mother starts again.

"Oh really?"

She nods.

"Did you tell him about Billy?"

Wilson gives Mary a stern look, but she shrugs it off.

"Well, we didn't really have a chance to, although that isn't a bad idea. We came back the week after he had his heart surgery."

"Oh."

"Things were in complete turmoil over there that Sunday."

"I can imagine."

"Don't tell your father," Mrs. West continues, "but I didn't like that new guy very much."

"Well, he doesn't either. He thinks he's going to replace him"

"Well wouldn't that just be awful?"

Mary and Wilson both nod in agreement. Mary is happy that Wilson's mother is opening up to her. She is also relieved that Wilson probably didn't tell her the whole story about what happened last January. His mother probably wouldn't be so nice to her if she knew all of that.

***

Back at the Camden household, Annie and Eric are still wondering why Mary and Wilson want to talk to them later, and why she and Wilson scurried off to his folk's home.

"You know, I just remembered!" Annie says out of the clear blue.

"What?"

"As soon as Mary walked in the door, she told me discretely not to mention Billy…"

"I thought it was odd that he wasn't here as well."

"Yeah, me too. My guess is it has to do something with him."

"But if it has to do with Billy, why would they ask to talk to us tonight?"

"Maybe there's something else, or maybe it's not that at all."

"Maybe. I still think she's pregnant."

"Eric, that isn't very nice." Annie reprimands her husband. "You know, whatever it is, I'm sure they're going to tell us, or at the very least we'll find out eventually."

"Yeah, but I want to know now."

"Well you can't, so let it go."

"Maybe I can, where's Ruthie?"

"Don't go bothering Ruthie, its no use. Everyone's asked her about Mary at some time or another, and she hasn't told anyone anything."

"Yes but I'm her father."

Eric walks upstairs into Ruthie's bedroom, but remembers that Jake is still over. He walks back down again, into the living room, knowing that that is where he could find them.

"Hey Dad." Ruthie says when she sees him.

"Hello Ruthie, Jake."

"Hi Reverend Camden."

"Ruthie, do you know if Mary is back yet?"

"No, I didn't even know she went out."

"Yeah, her and Wilson went over to his parent's house about a half hour ago."

"Oh, ok."

"Do you have any idea why they might have gone there?"

"Nope," Ruthie answers sincerely. She didn't know why they went. Sure, Ruthie was smart, but no one could put things together that quickly, especially with the limited information provided by both her dad and her sister.


	6. Mary's POV

(A/N: This is kind of just a little filler. I imagined Mary would have feelings after Kevin told what the taxpayer's money paid him to do today at work. I tried to make it sound like Mary, but it seems to sound more like something I would think rather than Ms. Camden. Sorry for that.)

***Mary's POV***

Wow. This is, wow. No- this is really wow. Way wow. Beyond wow. What am I supposed to do now? I wish Kevin just could have kept his big mouth shut. Even if he is telling the truth, I wish he hadn't told me. Everything was going so well, too. I thought I had my life more or less figured out, but not anymore. Something like this can only lead to one thing, trouble, and everyone knows that I'm the expert in that department. But wouldn't Kevin know trouble, too, since he's a cop? Maybe that's why he looked up Wilson? Or maybe not. Maybe he's still mad at me about Ben, which makes less sense then this whole mess does.

But besides that, the most important thing seems to be that someone- someone major, is lying to me- either my sister's almost fiancé who seems to be more a part of the family than I am, or the man I thought, or still feel, is the man of my dreams and beyond. 

I mean, I really can't stand Kevin. I never liked him, even when I was going out with Ben. He's so annoying, and his nose is about three feet too deep in someone else's business all the time. Like right now, even if what he says _is_ true, he has no right to even have this kind of information. Or tell me whom I can and cannot date. He's not Matt. What if I don't care if he hurts me? Wait- that came out wrong, but you get the idea. He doesn't know what I want in a guy. Maybe I like a little bit of danger, which I do sometimes. He doesn't even know enough about me to make that kind of assumption

And, if he is assuming this about Wilson, which I am guessing he is despite the little tale he told, he doesn't know enough about him to make that kind of judgment either. He met him, what, seven hours ago? The only thing that his story proves is that he knows nothing about Wilson, and that he didn't give him a chance from the get go. 

And I can't help wonder why that is. Why does he hate Wilson so much? I always thought he hated him because Wilson succeeded Ben, but why would he care so much? I mean, it's not that much of a big deal. Wilson's succeeded and preceded everyone. I would see why Ben would care, but why Kevin? 

And an even better question: why am I doubting myself…err, doubting Wilson? Wilson would never hit bit, or whatever he supposedly did to him. He loves him, unconditionally, and he has shown that in the past day. And Wilson loves me; at least I hope he does. I love him, I think. Yeah, I love him. I do. I love Wilson West. 

Yet even with this love, something about Kevin's story keeps making me rethink all my preconceived notions about who Wilson is. Kevin seemed so sympathetic when he told me, like I was acting completely clueless. Maybe I am, I don't know.

But at any rate, Kevin is lying. That's what I'm going with, even if he isn't. Kevin is wrong because I don't want to believe he's right. Wilson couldn't have done that, he just couldn't have. He doesn't have it in him. He's caring and kind, and he just didn't. Kevin a big fat liar and that's all there is to it.


	7. Chapter 6

Mary and Wilson ring the doorbell of his parent's house. His mother answers the door, and is almost moved to tears when she sees Wilson.

"Honey! What are you doing here?" She asks as she wraps her arms around her son.

"Mary and I flew out to be with her family for Christmas."

"But Christmas is a ways away."

"Its in one week Mom."

"Oh it is? My how time flies."

"Not anymore. Seven and a half months still seems like an eternity to me."

"Oh honey," his mother says, putting her arm on Wilson's shoulder. "Oh, forgive me. Please, come in."

Mrs. West gives them both some coffee, and they sit down in the kitchen. 

Mary felt very uncomfortable sitting here. This was definitely a private family moment. But who knows, maybe things will go right this time and she will end up family after all.

"I'm sorry your father is not home, Wilson. He's working."

"Its OK. We dropped by unannounced." Wilson takes a sip of his coffee. "Have you heard from Brittany's parents at all?"

"No, I haven't. I'm sorry. Have you?"

"Not since the last time I told you about."

"Oh."

There is a long pause. Everyone drinks about 4 or 5 sips of their warm coffee, but Mary is careful not to finish hers, as it provides for an escape. She could always take a sip when she felt like she wanted to bolt from the room.

"So, um, Mary. Wilson tells me you two are living together."

"Yes, we are."

"That's nice. What is it you do again?"

"I'm a flight attendant for Jet Blue airlines."

"Wow, you certainly are brave. I could never do anything like that, I'd be too scared."

"Well, I am not completely at ease it, but things are OK. Airport security is tight, and they implement new security measures on the planes quiet often. I hate to sound so preachy, being a minister's daughter and all, but you have to have faith or else you can't get through the day."

"Oh I agree. That's how I've been getting through my days since they took our little Billy form us. It's all so awful. They want nothing to do with him, or us even for that matter, and then one day they just show up and expect us to hand him over. Its insane."

"That is it." Mary comments. "I miss him too. He was always so clever. Its weird to have Wilson around again without Billy."

"Its weird to have you again without Billy." Wilson says. "He really likes you."

Mary smiles.

"You know, we've being going to your father's church lately, Wilson's father and I." His mother starts again.

"Oh really?"

She nods.

"Did you tell him about Billy?"

Wilson gives Mary a stern look, but she shrugs it off.

"Well, we didn't really have a chance to, although that isn't a bad idea. We came back the week after he had his heart surgery."

"Oh."

"Things were in complete turmoil over there that Sunday."

"I can imagine."

"Don't tell your father," Mrs. West continues, "but I didn't like that new guy very much."

"Well, he doesn't either. He thinks he's going to replace him"

"Well wouldn't that just be awful?"

Mary and Wilson both nod in agreement. Mary is happy that Wilson's mother is opening up to her. She is also relieved that Wilson probably didn't tell her the whole story about what happened last January. His mother probably wouldn't be so nice to her if she knew all of that.

***

Back at the Camden household, Annie and Eric are still wondering why Mary and Wilson want to talk to them later, and why she and Wilson scurried off to his folk's home.

"You know, I just remembered!" Annie says out of the clear blue.

"What?"

"As soon as Mary walked in the door, she told me discretely not to mention Billy…"

"I thought it was odd that he wasn't here as well."

"Yeah, me too. My guess is it has to do something with him."

"But if it has to do with Billy, why would they ask to talk to us tonight?"

"Maybe there's something else, or maybe it's not that at all."

"Maybe. I still think she's pregnant."

"Eric, that isn't very nice." Annie reprimands her husband. "You know, whatever it is, I'm sure they're going to tell us, or at the very least we'll find out eventually."

"Yeah, but I want to know now."

"Well you can't, so let it go."

"Maybe I can, where's Ruthie?"

"Don't go bothering Ruthie, its no use. Everyone's asked her about Mary at some time or another, and she hasn't told anyone anything."

"Yes but I'm her father."

Eric walks upstairs into Ruthie's bedroom, but remembers that Jake is still over. He walks back down again, into the living room, knowing that that is where he could find them.

"Hey Dad." Ruthie says when she sees him.

"Hello Ruthie, Jake."

"Hi Reverend Camden."

"Ruthie, do you know if Mary is back yet?"

"No, I didn't even know she went out."

"Yeah, her and Wilson went over to his parent's house about a half hour ago."

"Oh, ok."

"Do you have any idea why they might have gone there?"

"Nope," Ruthie answers sincerely. She didn't know why they went. Sure, Ruthie was smart, but no one could put things together that quickly, especially with the limited information provided by both her dad and her sister.


	8. Chapter 7

Mary's eyes are red from crying, and her face is still considerably damp. Wilson has his arm around Mary, holding her closely to him. As he walks through the door, he is looking down at Mary. When he looks up, and sees everyone eyeballing him, he is startled, and quickly pulls his hands off of Mary. Mary doesn't even have to look up; she knows the entire family is staring at them. She wipes her eyes and takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly, before speaking.

"Hi." Mary says quietly.

"What's wrong?" Ruthie asks, rushing over to her sister's side.

"Its nothing, I'm fine."

"Are you hurt? Sick?" Ruthie asks, still prying.

"Is everything all right?" Lucy asks. Even she was startled to see Mary walking in crying.

Mary looks up at Wilson, who shakes his head, which tells her he doesn't want her to say anything just yet. "Everything will be fine."

"Will be? What do you mean 'will be'?" Eric inquires.

Mary glares back at him, signaling she has no intention of answering his question. Annie claps her hands, and everyone looks at her.

"OK everybody, dinner will be ready in about 20 minutes. Why don't you all go get washed up?"

Slowly, they all file out of the kitchen.

"I bet she's pregnant." Kevin whispers to Lucy as they exit.

She hits Kevin in the side of the arm. "Don't even say that in jest! And will you stop ragging on my sister?"

"I thought you were still angry with her."

"Not anymore."

"What suddenly changed your mind?"

"When she came walking through the door crying. Didn't you see how much she was hurting?"

"I guess."

"Forget it, you wouldn't understand."

"Your right, I wouldn't. If she's upset, it's probably her own fault."

"Enough." Lucy says to Kevin calmly, with a harsh shrill in her voice. She looks at Kevin angrily, then storms off to her room, leaving Kevin alone in the hall.

In the kitchen, Mrs. and Rev. Camden didn't let Mary and Wilson leave as easy as they let the others go.

"We're going to talk to you both later, and we'll explain everything. I'm not in trouble, or physically hurt, or angry with you, or…or…or pregnant Dad."

"OK." Eric surrenders.

"You know, I may have moved on, but it still hurts that you don't trust me. None of you do. You can't wait two hours for me to tell you! And after I've told you time and time again since I've been here that I'm not pregnant, I bet you still don't believe me."

She runs up the stairs, forgetting to drag Wilson with her. She gets halfway up them, realizes this, and then comes back down to get him. But before she takes him, she remembers her earlier plan she had made with herself, to get her father to help Wilson. She looks her father square in the eyes, and swallows her anger.

"I'm sorry I got so mad, but that's honestly how I feel." She grabs Wilson's hand. "We're going to go get ready for dinner."

Mary pulls Wilson up the stairs, and into the bathroom. Obviously, no one listened to Annie, because it was unoccupied. Mary pulls out a tissue from the box, and begins to wipe her eyes. Wilson takes her hand, stopping her. He takes the tissue out of her hand, as she stares into his eyes.

"Let me do that for you." He says to her, as he dries her eyes.

"I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I should have held it together better, I mean he's not my son. I can't even imagine how you're feeling. And have you even cried once?"

"No, I can't. I won't let myself- crying won't solve anything."

"Yes it will. It'll make you feel better."

"And how do you know?"

"Who just cried for 20 minutes?"

"Oh, yeah. But stop now, please, for me? I don't want you getting any more worked up over my problems."

"OK." She says, sniffling. Wilson finishes wiping Mary's eyes, and she grabs his hand. "I have a confession to make." She says to him, looking at the floor.

"Ok…" Wilson says, almost scared as to what will come out of her mouth next.

"I kind of haven't told my parents that we're living together."

"Oh, um, ok. We could tell them later, after we tell them about Billy."

"Ok, I guess. But the reason I wasn't telling them was because I was afraid they'd jump to a wrong conclusion. They've already accused me of being pregnant, what, three times today? Maybe now isn't the best time."

"You shouldn't lie to them any longer. It will only make it harder to tell them the longer you wait."

"All right. But maybe we could tell them that first. Hopefully, then they'll forget about it after we tell them the other news."

"You can take woman out from the Camdens but you can't take the Camden out of the woman."

"Ha ha ha. Very funny."

"I thought it was."

He stares into Mary's eyes, and kisses her lips gently. He can taste the salt of her tears as his tongue enters her mouth. They kiss for a while, losing track of time. They finally stop when Mrs. Camden calls them for dinner.


	9. Chapter 8

The meal is very tense tonight. You could cut the tension in the room with the knife Eric was buttering his bread with. As the family eats, they stare at Mary, waiting for her to break into tears at any moment. This makes Mary very angry. She just wants them to leave her alone right now- that's all she ever wants, really.

"What?" she says, almost startling the table. "I'm fine. Stop staring at me!"

"Are you sure?" Lucy asks, actually being compassionate towards Mary.

"Yes!" she says, her tone of voice turning form angry to irritated. 

"Ok."

"Mary, could I talk to you later?" Ruthie asks trying to change the subject.

"Um, maybe tomorrow." She says, raising her fork to her mouth.

"Fine, tomorrow it is. First thing tomorrow morning?" Ruthie asks excited.

"Sure."

"No way, you're not talking to Mary before I talk to Mary." Lucy says out of the clear blue.

"Why do you all want to talk to Mary?" Annie asks.

"Oh, no reason." Lucy responds.

"Yeah, no reason," says Ruthie.

"Do you both have the same, um not reason?"

"No." They both answer at once.

"So can I talk to you later?" Lucy asks one more time.

"Sure, I guess. Tomorrow." 

Mary can't eat anymore. She's too nervous about her impending conversation with her parents, and too distressed to shove one more bite into her mouth. She only finished half of her plate, and she knew everyone would take note of that, but she didn't care. She just wanted to get out of there, and get away from all of the eyes watching her every move. Mary looks over at Wilson's plate, and sees that he's finished eating. 

"May we be excused?"

"Honey, you barely touched your spaghetti." Annie says.

"I'm not really all that hungry."

"All right, you can go."

Mary takes Wilson's hand, and the two of them take their plates into the kitchen.

"May I be excused, too?" Lucy asks as soon as the door swings closed behind the couple.

"Sure." Ann answers.

Lucy grabs her plate and practically sprints into the kitchen. She sees Mary and Wilson walking out into the hallway, and yells for Mary to wait.

"Luce, I said I'd talk to you tomorrow, and I promise I will." Mary says sounding very tired.

"I know, and I believe you, but can I talk to you for just one minute."

"I'll be in the living room." Wilson says to Mary, giving her and Lucy a moment alone.

"I just wanted to apologize to you."

"Apologize for what?"

"For the way I've been treating you lately- well not really lately, for a while."

"How have you been treating me?"

"Well, I haven't been all that nice to you. We all haven't. I guess we just can't see that you're a different person now. You'll never be the Mary you were before you left for New York, but you're better than ever. When you left two years ago, I was glad."

Mary frowns. She doesn't have time to deal with this now, nor does she want to.

"And I'm still glad that you left before, but now for a different reason. I'm happy that you're a better person, and changed once more to become a person I can look up to, and Simon can look up to, but more importantly Ruthie can look up to. She idolizes you, and I don't know if you realize that or not. You mean the world to her, you really do, so try not and break her heart."

"I won't."

"But anyways, I'm getting off track. I wanted to say that I'm sorry for being so mean since you got back- last winter and now. I don't know if you've noticed, but I've said some pretty mean things behind your back. I realized, though, when I saw you walk in with Wilson before, that you still are a good person. I don't know what you're hiding, but I can tell its something important. And I want you to know that if you want someone to talk to, besides Wilson or Mom and Dad, I'm here. I'll listen."

"Thanks Luce." Mary says, almost in tears for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.

The two sisters hug, and when they pull away Lucy speaks again. "And I also wanted to tell you not to listen to Kevin. He's just angry with you, probably about Ben, but it still doesn't make any sense to me. Something weird is going on in that head of his. I know you're strong, but if he says anything to you, just shrug it off. He doesn't mean it, at least I don't think he does."

"OK Luce, I'll keep that in mind." 

Mary smiles at her politely, tweaks Lucy's nose, and then turns to walk into the foyer.

"And Mary…" Lucy says when she is almost out of sight.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for being my sister."

"Oh, yeah, well, I didn't really have a choice." Mary laughs and Lucy does, too.

Mary enters the living room, and finds Wilson sitting on the couch.

"You better now?"

Mary sighs as she sits. "Kind of."

She rests her head on his shoulder, not noticing that he has something on his mind.

"Tell me everything is going to be OK." He asks of her.

"Only if you tell that to me." Mary says with a smirk. When he does not answer, Mary lifts her head and looks up into his face. "You were serious, weren't you?"

He doesn't answer her, but she can tell by the look on his face that he is.

"Everything will be fine." She says. "It will all work out in the end."

"Oh yeah, when's the end? Three and a half months from now? Because I don't feel like it will end there." He answers her, his voice choking up. 

"Oh gosh." She mutters sympathetically. "You OK?"

"No. Mare, I can't take this anymore. Seeing my parents did me in." He pauses, closing his eyes for a couple of seconds. Wilson uses all of his strength to keep from crying in front of Mary, but he can't do it anymore. He lets all of his inhibitions go, and tears stream down his face at whim. "I want my son back."

Mary pulls Wilson tightly to him, so tight it almost hurts. She begins to cry, too, seeing her man in tears. She knew that this was tearing him up inside, but she never really knew how much. Now that she can see his pain, it almost upsets her too much to watch.

Simon and Ruthie come out from the kitchen and walk into the foyer, casually talking to one another. They pass the living room, and see Mary and Wilson crying together. Surprised, they both stop and stare. Ruthie's jaw drops open in disbelief as Robbie walks up behind them. He is about to ask them what they are doing, when he spots Mary and Wilson. He puts one hand behind Simon's back, the other behind Ruthie's, and lightly pushes them along towards the stairs. Robbie sees that they walk into their rooms, and then walks into his.

Ruthie walks halfway up the stairs to the attic, then runs down them again. "This is too good to pass up," she thinks to herself. Ruthie takes the stairs that lead to the kitchen, where she knew she could find her parents.


	10. Chapter 9

In the living room, Mary and Wilson finally begin to pull it together.

"Feel better now?" She asks him.

"Sort of, not really."

"If you don't want to admit it, fine." Mary says with a smile.

"Come here." He tells Mary, pulling her onto his lap. "You know, you're the only woman I could cry with."

"Good to know."

Wilson rubs his eyes with the back of his hand, still embarrassed from weeping on Mary's shoulder. Mary smiles, and pulls a tissue out of her pocket. 

"Let me do that for you."

Mary wipes Wilson's eyes, but he touches her hand, stopping her. He slowly pulls her hand from her face, and sets it down at her side, the whole time staring into Mary's hazel eyes. His kisses her lips lightly, barely touching them. Mary wants more. She attempts to escalate the kiss to the next level, but Wilson doesn't let her, still teasing her. "He's back." Mary thinks to herself as she pulls away from his tender lips. Mary stares into Wilson's eyes, trying to find out if he is really ok now, or at least for the moment. She isn't really sure what she is looking for, but is satisfied with what she sees. 

She slides off of Wilson's lap, and sits back down on the couch. Mary looks over Wilson's shoulder, and sees both of her parents staring at them.

"You were watching us?!" Mary screams, hurt that her parents would betray her like this.

"Um…yes." Eric admits.

"For how long?"

"Long enough. Wilson, what's wrong?"

"No! Don't think that just because you're going to help us now that means it was okay to stand there and watch me with my boyfriend!" Mary yells. 

"Well, Ruthie came into the kitchen and said that you both were crying in the living room, so we came in here." Annie says.

"You've been watching us for that long?!"

"Yes, it was wrong. We're sorry."

Mary still wants to protest, but gives up. She figures there's no use in it. And besides, if she wanted them to help her, she can't scream at them anymore.

"So do you want to talk now? We're here for you, both of you, whatever it is."

Mary looks over to Wilson, and he nods. "OK."

Reverend and Mrs. Camden walk into the living room, and close the sliding doors behind them. They sit down on the couch opposite Mary and Wilson.

"Ok, so what's up?" Eric starts.

"Well, me first." Mary starts. "I've kind of kept something from you- something you should know."

"Ok…" Eric says, **still** convinced that Mary is pregnant. Mary grabs Wilson's hand quickly, which worries Eric even more.

"Wilson and I…"

"Oh gosh," Eric thinks as she pauses, "this is it. The end of her life."

"…are kind of, well not kind of, we _are_, l-living together in Ft. Lauderdale."

Wilson couldn't help but smile as Mary told her parents. She looked so cute as she floundered in front of the two of them. As he does this, Eric lets out a huge sigh.

"That's a relief. Well, it could be worse."

"I think that's fine. You're an adult now Mary, and you have to make your own decisions. We can't forbid you from living with Wilson, and frankly you're 21 now so I wouldn't. We raised you right, and if you were to move in with anyone we would pick Wilson indefinitely."

"W-we're OK with this?" Eric asks Annie.

"Yes Eric, we are."

Mary was actually sort of happy her parents were watching her before. Her mother felt she had to go on her "we respect your freedom" trip after that. Mary had no intentions of telling them that they slept in the same bed every night. Her father is still recovering from heart surgery, she didn't want to be responsible for shocking him into having another heart attack. Although, as awful as that would be, Mary finds humor in it. She smirks to herself as she pictures it.

"But, um, that wasn't the important thing. We have something else to tell you." She turns to Wilson. "Do you want to tell them or should I?" she asks him, lowering the volume of her voice.

"I'll start. I don't think you want to explain to your parents about after our breakup." Wilson whispers into Mary ear.

"Its kind of a long story. I'm going to start from the beginning," as he commences with his story, Wilson tightens his grip on Mary's hand. She can feel him shaking. He is obviously nervous, not to mention more emotionally unstable than he has ever been in his life.

"It all started when…"

"Yes?"

Mary goes upstairs into her room, and lies back on her bed. She knew that Wilson was downstairs, practically right beneath her at the very moment, and that was killing her. She desperately wanted to be with him- to tell him how proud she was of him, how much she loved him, and remind him that everything would be all right. Nothing could go wrong now; she just knew that in the bottom of her heart. She listens very carefully, and can faintly hear the shower still running. She figured he'd be in there for a couple more minutes, and as soon as she heard the shower stop she'd run down and wait at the door until he got out.

Her predictions were wrong, tough, because as soon as she figured out her plan, the shower stopped. She ran down the stairs, almost bowling Ruthie over and running straight between Kevin and Lucy en route to the bathroom.

She gets to the door, and knocks lightly.

He had a feeling it was her. "Mare?" Wilson asks through the door.

"Yup."

"One second."

Wilson wraps a towel around himself, and then opens the door. Mary walks inside and closes the door behind her.

"Is it all right for you to be in here?"

"Probably not, but I'm willing to take the risk- just because its you."

"I'm honored."

"Listen, I have an idea."

"Uh oh."

"You haven't even heard it yet!"

"Sorry, reflex."

Mary rolls her eyes at him. "I was thinking, after you get dressed," she says tracing the outline of his muscles on his chest with her index finger, "remember when we fell asleep in my bed the first time we got back together?"

"How could I forget that? Best five minute nap in my life."

"Well maybe we could, uh, _recreate _that," she says raising an eyebrow.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, don't you trust me?"

"To some extent."

"You know, you're being pretty mean to be considering I spent the whole day helping you."

"I'm sorry. Let me make that up to you." He leans down and kisses Mary, pulls back slightly, and then goes in for another kiss. Mary cuts the second one short.

"Now go get dressed."

"I never thought I'd hear you tell me to put clothes _on_."

Mary opens the door, and starts to walk out. Before she leaves, she turns around, insisting on having the last word. "Just for that, you owe me another kiss."

Mary walks out of the bathroom and upstairs to change into her pajamas. She pulls them out of the drawer, when Kevin appears at the door. 

Mary looks around the room. "Uh…Lucy isn't up here."

"I know."

"So then why are you here?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Me?"

Kevin nods.

"Ok." She says apprehensively. From hearing all of Ruthie's storied about Kevin, she is kind of scared of him.

She sits down on Ruthie's bed and Kevin sits across from her on Lucy's.

"I think there's something you should know. Well, actually, this is confidential information, but you're part of this family, and I want to be part of this family, so I have an obligation to look out for you."

"What are you talking about?"

"When they called me into work today, I looked up some stuff on this Wilson guy."

"Now why would you do something like that? And isn't that not allowed?"

Kevin doesn't answer her question, but asks one of his own. "Do you know what happened to Wilson this summer?"

"Yes, Wilson tells me anything. And personally, I don't think his life is any of your business."

"And you don't have a problem with this?"

"Why would I?"

"Are you _sure_ you know what happened?"

"Yes, but Wilson is expecting me downstairs so if you'd just cut to the chase and tell me why you hate him it would save us both a lot of time."

"Its Wilson West, correct?"

"Yes."

"And his son is Wilson West Jr.?"

The fact that he knew that worried Mary. Nobody calls Billy Wilson, or even knows that his real name is Wilson Jr. "Do you have a point?"

"Mary, you're not listening to me. What I'm trying to say is that Wilson was arrested for child abuse in June. He beat Billy. He spent three months in jail and the state took his son away from him."

"What? You're lying to me!"

"No, I'm not." He says sounding sympathetic, at least for him anyways.

"Yes you are! You obviously know nothing about Wilson!"

"No, you're the one who doesn't know anything about him. "

"Why would you even make something like that up? There's something really wrong with your head Kevin."

"Fine, don't believe me. But if he hurts you don't blame me."

Mary thinks for a second. "Are you sure of all of this?"

"Yes. And if I were you, I'd be careful around him."

Kevin gets up off of the bed and leaves the room, his words lingering in the empty four walls. Mary falls back onto the bed, wishing she had someone to turn to in her moment of self-crisis, or moreover self-doubt.


	11. Chapter 10

Mary walks back downstairs and knocks on the door to Robbie's room, hoping for some reason Robbie was still in the process of transporting his things, maybe giving Mary some more time. Unfortunately, she has no such luck. Wilson opens the door, and takes Mary by the hand, pulling her inside.

Wilson takes note of her choice in sleeping attire: pajama pants and a camisole tank top. "Don't you think you'll be a little chilly in that? Its not as warm here as it is in Florida."

_See, good ol' Wilson, looking out for me. Kevin was definitely lying. What was I thinking?  _Mary stops being afraid, or at least convinces herself that she has stopped, and walks into the room. "Well, I was hoping you would keep me warm."

"Certainly."

Mary loved having Wilson all to herself. That was one thing that Mary didn't miss about Billy- him being there all the time. She loved the little guy to pieces, honest she did, but it was hard for them to get any time alone. He was constantly staring at them. No kissing, no hugging, no nothing until he left the room. Not that Mary blamed Wilson, she doesn't want him watching them either, but after a while she could care less if he was in the room or not. Many times Wilson pulled away from Mary when Billy entered the room, and Mary tried to keep going. It was funny, the times she seemed to want him the most, when he looked so incredibly endearing, always happened to be when Billy was in the room. Sometimes she just wished they could have one day alone. Now they had all the time alone they could ever wanted, and they both secretly missed Billy interrupting them. Well, Wilson missed them more than Mary, but still those moments, however awkward they could be, were certainly missed.

They sit on the bed, and Wilson leans back against the pillows. Mary lies down on top of him. Wilson wraps his arms around Mary in front of her, and instinctively she tenses up. She attempts to relax, but it is too obvious.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she lies. She rolls over onto her side and snuggles closer into Wilson. She wraps her arms around him, and pulls him tightly toward her.

"You sure?" he says, wrapping his arms around her as well.

Mary doesn't answer. She instead closes her eyes and begins to think things through in her favorite place in the world to be, Wilson's arms. _Should I tell him or shouldn't I? Would he even care? If I was him I'd care, but he's a lot stronger than I ever will be._ Wilson kisses the top of Mary's head, interrupting her thoughts.

"What's wrong?  Are you tired, upset, what? I know something's on your mind. Tell me."

Those words were all that she needed. In a way, though, she felt bad for Wilson. "Tell me." He was so naïve. She pauses for a second, thinking about what was going to come out of her mouth.

"Mare?"

"I…uh…" she stammers, stalling. The last thing she wants to happen is for Wilson to tell her that Kevin is telling the truth. Besides the fact that she would be crushed if Wilson really did do what Kevin accused him of doing, Mary would loose herself. Wilson is the only thing in this world that keeps her sane. If she found out he had lost it, she wouldn't know which way is up anymore. Wilson starts to rub her back, and she decides to continue, against her intuition. 

"Kevin told me something before I came down here." She starts, unable to look Wilson in the eyes. "He told me that he found out something about you when he went to work this afternoon."

"Huh? What do you mean 'he found out something about me'?"

"Kevin told me, um, that," Mary closes her eyes tightly as she listens to herself tell the train wreck of a story.  "He said that you were arrested this summer."

"Arrested? For what?"

"For beating Billy."

"What?!" he says almost screaming, and then sitting fully upright, Mary falling into his lap.

"But I told him that that was impossible, that you'd never hurt Billy. I told him that wasn't why Billy was gone at all."

"Why would he say something like that?"

"He's been saying stuff like that since we got here. He's jealous of you or something."

"Why?"

"I honestly don't know."

"Wait, when you say 'stuff like that', stuff about me?"

"No, stuff about me. Lucy told me. She implied that when she talked to me before."

"Well, he can say as much stuff about me as he wants, but he crossed the line when he talked about you."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm going to do something about this."

"Like what?"

"I'm going to talk to him. He has no reason to talk about me, or you. Does he?"

"No."

"Then I'm going to go stick up for you, for both of us."

"I don't think you should."

"I don't need someone saying things about me, Mary, and neither do you. we can't let him think that it is all right for him to do this. We're going to be here for another week."

"But-"

"Where is he?"

Mary looks at her watch. She sees that it is 11:30. "Well, um, he has the garage apartment, I guess he'd be there."

Wilson stands and opens the door.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, stay here."

"Why? What are you going to do?"

"I'm just going to talk to him."

"Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't."

"So, can I come then? I want to go with you. I don't think you should talk to him alone."

"I'll be back in ten minutes. Just stay here. You look exhausted."

"So do you."

Wilson smiles at her and walks out the door.

"Wilson-" Mary yells after him, not really knowing why. Something just told her not to let him go.

"Stay, I want to talk to him alone."

"I know, but it's not that. Please, don't go. Wait until tomorrow."

"Why?"

"I don't know exactly; I just have a bad feeling about this." Mary recalls all of her "bad feelings" she had had in the past couple of years. Being around Coach Koper, playing fire drill with Lucy before the station wagon was hit, Wilson calling her that night and saying he had to break their dinner date- all of them led to bad things and unfortunate incidents. Her mind races, still having a hunch that this would all blow up in their faces, or his. He voice inside her head tells her once again to not let Wilson go find Kevin. "What about our nap?" she asks him, trying to seduce him into staying. As soon as she said that, though, she knew he was leaving. From experience she was aware that it was nearly impossible to seduce Wilson into anything. He was the most levelheaded person Mary knew, except for now.

"I'll be right back. Try not to miss me too much." He says with a wink.

Mary watches Wilson walk down the hallway, and then hears him walk down the stairs. The house was quiet tonight, quieter than she had ever remembered, and she could even hear Wilson open and close the back door. Once she heard the door slam, she never she was being stupid. She felt so strongly that Wilson shouldn't be there, she had to at least try and do something. She gets up off the bed, and starts to walk down the stairs to go out to the apartment over the garage.


	12. Chapter 11

***WARNING: This chapter gets a little violent, but it's nothing that horrible. If PG or PG-13 violence easily offends you, do not read. I don't want to give it away before you read, but this chapter is along the lines of the season 3 episode "Johnny Get Your Gun". Enjoy and please review!!!

Wilson walks into the garage, and over to the stairs that lead to the garage apartment. He walks up them, and knocks on the doors blocking his path.

"Lucy?" Kevin asks from the other end.

"No, its Wilson. Could I come in?"

Kevin grows worried, but then becomes angry for no apparent reason. He hates Wilson, deeper than he has ever despised anyone in his life, and that even scares himself. "I guess so." 

Kevin sits down in his chair, and crosses his arms over his chest. Wilson lifts the boards that cover the entrance to the one room apartment, and steps inside. Wilson stares at Kevin scornfully, and Kevin has the audacity not to get up. He remains seated with a "holier than thou" expression on his face.

"I think we should talk."

"What about?" Kevin says, trying to sound as pleasant as possible.

"About what you said before."

"You know, I said so many things today. You'll have to be more specific than that."

"Don't get smart with me." Wilson says, holding his own.

"Is that why you beat your son? Because he got 'smart' with you?"

"You and I both know that all of that never happened. Why did you make that up?"

Kevin stands, walking closer to Wilson. "I don't like you."

"Well, I don't like you much either, so I guess we're even. But what did I ever do to you?"

"You exist." Kevin gets an evil smirk on his face, and takes a few steps backwards to his desk. He reaches for his the holster on his police belt, never taking his eyes off of Wilson. He reaches inside the leather flap, brushing his hand over the top of the revolver concealed inside. "But I guess I have the power to change all of that, now don't I?"

"What do you mean by that?" Wilson says, determined not to loose his edge. 

Kevin reveals his gun slowly, and aims at Wilson.

"Hey…now, can't we work this out?" He asks, trying with everything he has to remain calm.

"I don't think so," Kevin mutters. Wilson can barely hear him over the pounding of his heart.

Just before Kevin is about to pull the trigger, Mary walks up the stairs. She sees Wilson, and smiles on instinct. She is about to speak, when she turns toward Kevin. She sees his gun poised in the direction of both her and Wilson, and Mary is paralyzed with fear. Her mind is even blank- no thoughts buzzing in and out like usual. 

"Good," Kevin says, "I've always enjoyed an audience."

"Kevin…" Mary squeezes out, finding her voice for somewhere within her. "What are you doing?" her voice cracks as she says those words, being between breaking into tears and screaming her head off.

"Well, Mary, we were in the middle of something, something I plan on finishing. Now, if you don't mind…" Kevin voice trails off, as he steadies his aim. His mind flashes back to his police academy training, the part where they talked about where to shoot the felon. As a police officer, you are never supposed to intentionally shoot anyone with intent to kill him or her, only try to stop them or slow them down. He recalls that you are supposed to shoot a moving enemy in the legs, to prevent them from running away, and you shoot a non-mobile criminal in the arm. 

Kevin moves the gun from the area of Wilson's stomach to Wilson right arm. He pulls the trigger, sending a loud boom throughout the entire garage a and bullet flying through the air. The shell pierces Wilson's arm, inexplicably going right through his sturdy bicep. The bullet flies out of his arm, leaving a bloody trail in its wake. It continues to whiz through the air towards Mary, grazing the side other arm resulting in a very deep scratch, before getting lodged in the wall behind her. 

Wilson drops to his knees, holding his arm. Mary rushes over to his side, sitting on the floor beside him. She was still in a state of intense shock, but holds Wilson to her. Kevin sits back down his chair, wondering what he had just done. 

_I just shot someone. Me, Kevin Kinkirk. And this man was no criminal, just an average hard-working civilian. I just shot the very type of person I work hard everyday trying to protect._

Outside, Robbie is just coming home late from a date. He hears the loud boom come form the garage and is curious to find its origin, as any red-blooded Camden would be. He peeks into the garage, and sees that no one is there. When he is just about to leave, he here voices coming from the apartment. He walks up the stairs, and isn't really sure what he sees before them.

"Robbie," Mary says to him as soon as she lays her eyes on him, sounding more desperate then ever. "Go get help." Robbie runs inside of the house, and upstairs to the Reverend and Mrs. Camden's bedroom.

***

An hour and a half later, Mary is sitting in the waiting room of the hospital with Lucy and Ruthie on either side of her. Mary knew no one else wanted to come with her, even though they had all come up with very good excuses. Robbie had to work tomorrow. Her mother had to watch Sam and David, and plus, it was too late for them to be out. It was nearly two in the morning now. Simon…Mary couldn't even remember what he had said, but she hadn't really cared if he came or not. Her father, and this was the best one, was still recovering from his surgery, and shouldn't be out either. What, was that 3 months ago? He couldn't sit in the emergency room for a couple of hours? Even Lucy didn't really want to be here, but she would rather be here not talking to anyone than at home with her parents. The only one who wanted to come was Ruthie. Her mother wasn't going to let her, because she had her last full day of school tomorrow before the break, but she pleaded with Annie, who finally caved in due to exhaustion.

Lucy and Ruthie are both propped up against Mary, asleep. She is surprised they were able to sleep on her, because she had been shaking uncontrollably since it happened. Mary sits there staring blankly in front of her. At the moment, her anger towards her family masks the pain inside of her. She hadn't heard anything about Wilson, no one had, and his parents a few rows of chairs behind her were noticeably worried. 

Mary decides that she can't just sit here anymore. She has to get up and move around, stretch her muscles, anything. She couldn't figure out how she felt, but she knew she definitely couldn't figure anything out just sitting there. She is able to maneuver Lucy off of her without waking her up, but when she moves Ruthie, her eyes spring open, startling Mary.

"Is everything ok?"

"Shh!" Mary whispers, pointing towards Lucy.

"Sorry." Ruthie whispers back.

"I'm going to go take a walk."

"Can I come?"

"No, stay here with Lucy."

"I don't want to stay here with Lucy. Can't I come? We can talk."

Mary smiles at her sister. She turns towards Lucy and nudges her until she awakens. She tells her that she and Ruthie will be right back, and Mary and Ruthie walk out of the doors of the waiting room.

"So, where to?" Ruthie asks as the doors swing shut behind them.

"I don't know. How about the cafeteria?"

"Are you hungry?"

"No, actually I fell like I'm going to be sick, but there's no where else to go."

"Oh, ok."

They stroll down the halls, following the signs to the eatery. Once they arrive, they sit at a table together. Mary uses all of her strength she has left to be pleasant toward her sister.

"So, are you going to have a battle scar?"

"What?"

"How's your arm?"

"It hurts a little, but not as bad as my heart."

"Is Wilson going to be OK?" Ruthie asks seriously.

Mary looks back at her sister, whom she still remembers as a little girl eating Poptarts on her bed. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

Ruthie glares back at her. "I'm almost 13. Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying to you. I- I don't know if he's going to be all right or not. He bled so much. The paramedic said that wasn't good." Mary's eyes begin to fill up with tears.

"Well, I have a better question then." Ruthie says.

"Yes?"

"Are you going to be OK?"

"I told you, my arm's fine."

"I'm not talking about your arm. I'm talking about you."

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I don't know about Lucy though, she's really upset."

"This is Lucy we're talking about here, she gets really upset over Kevin looking at Roxanne."

The two of them quickly get quiet. "Sorry." Ruthie says.

Mary isn't listening. _Roxanne…_

"Uh, Ruthie, I'm going to go make a phone call. Let me take you back to Lucy."

"Who are you going to call? Wilson's here."

"I know," Mary says, "I just have something to take care of, that's all."

The two of them walk back to the waiting room, to find Lucy crying her eyes out. 

"Why don't you get this one." Mary whispers to Ruthie, who nods proudly.

Mary walks over to the payphone, and calls the police station. She figured Roxanne just might be there, considering everything that has happened tonight. 

"Hello?"

"Hi, can I please speak to Officer, uh, Roxanne, I don't know her last name."

"I'm sorry, she's off duty now, but she might be coming in soon. Would you like me to leave a message?"

"No, no, that's ok."

"This doesn't happen to be Mary Camden by any chance, does it?"

"Detective Michaels?"

"Yup. How are you holding up?"

"Honestly I don't know."

"How's Wilson?"

"They haven't said anything yet, which isn't good either. When my dad was shot, he was home an hour and a half later."

"Well, I'll say a prayer."

Mary almost burst out laughing at his comment. It shouldn't seem funny, especially to someone like her, but it was just one of those days. "Oh, well thank you."

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

Mary thinks for a second. "Well, maybe you can."


	13. Chapter 12

Mary walks back over to her sisters, with a slightly satisfied expression on her face.

"What are you so happy about?" Ruthie asks.

"Nothing, I just restored my faith in Wilson."

"What?" Lucy asks.

"Nothing. Oh, um, Luce, Sgt. Michaels said that Roxanne would probably stop by here soon. They called her about an hour ago."

"Oh god." Lucy says, her hands going to her stomach. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Who did you call?" Ruthie asks.

"Sgt. Michaels." Mary wanted to tell them that Kevin would probably get charged with attempted murder, landing him at least some prison time, but then she thinks of Lucy. If she were in her place, she wouldn't want to here that right now. She slumps down in the chair next to Lucy, and grabs her sister's hand. "Whatever happened to Jimmy Moon? Jimmy Moon was such a nice boy."

Lucy tries to smile, but she can't. "What if he tried to shoot me?" she asks, leaning back in the chair.

Mary shakes her head and stands up frustrated and annoyed with her sister's overly apparent lack of sympathy toward her. "I don't know Luce." Mary mutters. She switches her seat to the other side of Ruthie, but Lucy doesn't even notice. Mary ruffles Ruthie's hair, and she turns to face her. "You tired?"

"Yes." Ruthie says, giving in.

"I could call someone to come get you. I'm sure Robbie would come."

"No. I want to stay here with you. Somebody's got to stick by you." Ruthie says, stressing the word "somebody". Lucy isn't even listening to them. 

Mary pulls Ruthie's head down to her shoulder, hoping she might get a little sleep, when a doctor walks out of the emergency room. 

"Is there a Mr. or Mrs. West here?"

Mary's head jerks around to the other side of the room. She listens intently, until Mrs. West signals for her to come over. She stands, her throat dry and her knees shaking, and goes over.

"Well, first off, he's going to be OK. He lost a lot of blood, and he's weak. But besides that, I expect his arm to heal quite nicely. We're going to have to keep him until tomorrow, and possibly tomorrow night." All three of them nod, showing they understand. "Now, you can go and see him, but only for a little while. He needs his rest. No more than two at a time."

"Thank you Doctor." Wilson's father answers, and the doctor leaves. 

"If you two don't mind, would it be OK of I went to see Wilson after you?"

"Oh honey. That's just fine," Wilson's mother answers, smiling sympathetically toward the down trotted Camden woman.

Mary goes back to her seat she previously occupied, and puts her head in her hands. She lets out a loud sigh, closing her eyes and almost falling asleep in an instant. Ruthie places her hand on Mary's back. "It will be OK Mary."

Mary doesn't say anything back; she just begins to sob. After about ten minutes, she sees Wilson's parents come back out. She attempts to dry her eyes, and stands. She pushes through the doors, and saunters into the room that Wilson is in.

Mary walks into the room, and her heart breaks as she sees Wilson. He is lying down in a bed, his arm wrapped in bandages and in a sling. He is dressed in one of those hospital gowns, which depresses Mary even more. The bed is tilted upwards, so he notices her as soon as she walks in the room.

"Hey." She whispers to him.

"Hello beautiful."

Mary smiles slightly as she walks over and sits down in the chair next to his bed. "How are you doing?"

"I've been better, but it's not too bad. How's your arm?"

"It's OK; it only hurts a little." She picks up the hand of the unscathed arm and places it in hers. 

They sit for a little while in silence. Mary can tell that Wilson is thinking, about Kevin she assumed.

"How did you know?" he asks, catching Mary off guard.

"How did I know what?"

"How did you know we weren't just going to end up talking?"

"I wasn't sure, but I had a feeling- woman's intuition I guess."

"I'm so sorry you got hurt, too. I should have listened to you in the first place. This is all my fault."

"Its not your fault. You didn't know he was going to do this." Mary says. "If it's anyone's fault its mine. I shouldn't have told you about what Kevin said to me in the first place. Then we would have just napped like I had planned." Mary stops for a second, and attempts to change the subject. "How bad did it hurt?"

"Really bad." He answers, filling Mary's eyes with tears.

"Come on now," he says, squeezing Mary's hand. "Don't cry, please."

"I can't help it. This is so awful."

"Yeah, I know."

Mary is shocked by Wilson's defeatist attitude. He never acts like that, or at least she has never seen him that way in all the time she's spent with him. "But you're going to be OK, right? The doctor said that you're going to be OK."

"Then I'm going to be OK."

Mary figures it is useless to try and cheer him up. She decides that he probably just needs some time.

"So, is there anything you want me to do for you before I go? The doctor said I should only stay for a couple of minutes because you need you rest."

"No, I'm fine. You should go home, get some sleep. You look exhausted."

"So do you."

"You sure? Because I could sit with you."

"No, go home. You need your rest just as much as I do."

"Well, I don't think I'll be getting too much sleep tonight."

"Just the same."

Mary smiles. Its warms her heart that Wilson is still looking out for her. "OK." She squeezes his hand. "I'll come back first thing in the morning."

"Isn't it morning?"

They both laugh as Mary looks at her watch. "Its 2:30. I'll be back at 7, I promise. 'K?"

"You don't have to come back that fast."

"Like I said, I'll be back at seven." She repeats with a smile on her face. She leans down to Wilson and kisses his forehead, and then once lightly on the lips. "Bye." She whispers as she turns and walks to the door. She reaches for it, taking one final look back at Wilson. Her eyes start to well with tears, and blinking them away only makes them stream down her cheeks.


	14. Chapter 13

She walks back into the waiting room, and over to her sister's. "Come on, we're going back home."

"How's Wilson?" Ruthie asks.

"He's fine, oddly enough."

"Does his arm hurt?"

"Well, he's all bandaged up and in a sling, but he's going to be all right in time." She turns her head and stares directly at Lucy. "Time heals all wounds." Lucy stares back at her as Mary puts her arm around her. "Luce, what do you say we let Ruthie drive?" Mary asks.

Lucy laughs. "I'll drive."

They arrive back at the house at 2:50. Mary, Lucy, and Ruthie drag themselves up the stairs to the attic and crawl into bed. No one even notices they have come home, and, as far as Mary could tell, they didn't care either. Lucy falls asleep first, as Mary lies herself down. Just as she is about to close her eyes, to attempt to get maybe five minutes of sleep, someone taps her shoulder. She rolls over and sees Ruthie at the side of her bed.

"Can I get in with you?" she asks Mary. "I'm scared."

"There's nothing to be scared over. Kevin's gone and he's never coming back." Mary says, more for her own benefit than Ruthie's.

"I know, but I'm still a little leery."

"All right," Mary says lifting up the covers, "get in."

Ruthie crawls into Mary's bed and snuggles in next to her sister. Mary puts her arms around her, and says goodnight. Ruthie falls asleep in a heartbeat, but Mary has too much on her mind to be able to rest. She stays awake until 5:30 in the morning, thinking things through. The only decision she came to, though, was that she wished Wilson was lying there next to her instead of Ruthie. Still, it made her feel good to be wanted, even if it was just to ease her 12-year-old sister's mind. 

Mary is awakened at 6:45 by the sound of the doorbell ringing. It rings three times before someone answers it. About 5 minutes later, there is a knock at the bedroom door. Mary gets out of bed and opens it to find her mother.

"Uh, Roxanne is here." She informs her. "She's downstairs. She wants to talk to you and Lucy."

Mary lets out a heavy sigh. "I have to leave for the hospital in, like, 10 minutes though. I told Wilson I'd be back at 7."

Her mother glares at her.

"All right, I'll wake up Lucy. Tell her we'll be down in 3 minutes."

Mary walks over to Lucy's bed, and shakes her until she wakes up.

"What?" she mumbles.

"Roxanne is downstairs. She wants to talk to us, so get up."

"OK." She says, rolling out of bed. She stands up, puts her slippers on, and walks to the door. "Wait, did you say Roxanne?" Lucy asks, just before she opens the door. Mary nods. "Oh god. I can't see her!" 

"Yes you can. C'mon, it'll be good for you."

"No, it won't."

"So what, you're going to talk to her anyways." Mary says, grabbing her hand and pulling her down the stairs. 

The two of them walk into the living room, and sit on the couch opposite Roxanne. 

"I…I don't know what to say to you both." Roxanne starts. "I'm sorry."

"Its not your fault. You have nothing to apologize for." Mary says.

"I know, but apologizing still feels appropriate."

They are quiet for a little while. Roxanne and Lucy avoid eye contact, having no clue what to say to the other. Mary doesn't feel like she owes either of them anything, especially Roxanne, so she decides to keep her mouth shut. 

"So, I, um, guess I should be going. You're probably really tired."

"Yeah." Lucy says, half-heartedly. 

The three of them stand, and walk towards the door. Just before Roxanne is about to leave, she turns around to Lucy. "I know you don't like me that much, but if you want to talk, I'm here."

Lucy's face turns from angry to pleasant. "Thanks."

Roxanne leaves and Lucy and Mary walk back upstairs. Lucy gets back into bed, but Mary gets dressed. By the time she is all ready to go, Lucy has fallen back asleep. Mary closes the door silently behind her, and walks down the stairs to the kitchen. She sees her mother and father sitting there, drinking coffee.

"I'm going to go to the hospital now."

"OK." Her father says.

Mary waits for them to ask how Wilson is, or something like that. For all they know, he could have died. Yet, neither of them says anything else.

"Um, Bye." She says, a little angry, and walks out the door.

She arrives at the hospital, and walks back into Wilson's room.

"Hey."

"Hi. I'm sorry I'm late, Roxanne showed up on our doorstep, and I tried to explain to my mother that I told you I'd be back at 7, but she wouldn't listen to me."

"Mare, its OK, it's only ten past seven. Calm down."

"Sorry, I just feel really worked up. How's your arm?"

"Not that bad."

"Really and truly?"

"Really and truly. How are you doing?"

"All right I guess. I'm still kind of in a state of shock."

"And your arm?"

"Oh, its fine. The bullet just scratched me, not like it did to you."

"Yeah," he says, sounding sort of depressed.

Mary sits down in the chair next to Wilson. She takes his hand and stares adoringly at him. "So, when are you getting out of this joint?"

"Whenever the doctor says I can leave. Hopefully soon." He squeezes Mary's hand. "I just hope this doesn't ruin your Christmas."

"All I wanted for Christmas was to be with you, and you're here with me. As long as we're together I'll be happy."

"Same here." He replies. Wilson stares at Mary peculiarly for a few seconds.

"What?" she finally asks him.

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"No you're not."

"Yes I am. Really." She pauses for a second, and Wilson smiles at her. "OK, maybe I'm not fine, but I'm trying."

"Come here." He says, shifting to make room for her on the bed.

"Are you sure?" she asks apprehensively. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't hurt me, I promise."

Mary sits on the bed next to her beloved, and rests her head on his shoulder. He runs his fingers lovingly through her hair as he kisses the top of her head.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asks her.

"No, not right now."

"All right, but we're going to have to talk about it eventually."

"I know, but I'm not ready yet." She says, snuggling closely into him.

Wilson wraps his arm around Mary. They both lay there in a half awake-half asleep state for over an hour. Just as Wilson is finally about to get some rest, he is jolted awake by pain in his arm. He lifts his head and looks at it, then looks down at Mary. He realizes she is crying, but trying to be discrete about it. He goes to say something to her, but stops himself. Instead, he rubs her back to comfort her, and decides just to let her cry.

Twenty-five minutes later, she stops herself. Mary picks her head up and kisses Wilson on the cheek, then lies back down on top of him. He says nothing to her, and just continues to caress her back softly. One of the reasons he says nothing is that he doesn't want to start getting emotional himself. He figures that one of them had to try and keep it together, and even though Mary's strong, she tends to loose it when something is really bothering her. Like when she wanted to stop using crutches after she was hit by that car, but was too scared to do so, for example. Wilson merely went to talk to her about it, and she just started crying out of the clear blue. She was the same way yesterday with Billy. As soon as they got back in the car, she just went nuts- totally ballistic. Wilson had to drive them back to the Camdens'. He also knows that Mary hates it when people rub things in her face. If he made reference to the fact that she is crying, forget about it. He'd get the cold shoulder for at least twenty minutes from her. Mary isn't one to swallow her pride when she is in trouble, especially emotional trouble. She'll never loose an argument- always right, never admits she's wrong.


	15. Chapter 14

There is a knock at the door of Wilson's room, and Mary quickly scurries off of the bed and into the chair.

"Mr. West…" the doctor says walking in, his head buried in Wilson's chart. He looked to be about thirty-five years old, light brown hair, and a little on the short side.

"Yes." Wilson answers.

"Hello I'm Dr. Connelly." He lifts his head up, and looks in the direction of Mary. "And who is this fine young lady. Please tell me it's your sister."

"No, actually I'm his girlfriend." Mary responds.

"Oh, well isn't that a shame." He turns to Wilson. "You've got yourself a fine looking woman."

Wilson isn't really sure how to respond to that comment. "Well, she's very special to me."

"I'm sure." Dr. Connelly says. "So, um, I'm going to have to take your bandages off. I don't know if those gorgeous eyes of yours will be able to stand this," he says, staring straight at Mary.

Mary tries her best to shrug off the sexist comment, and turns toward Wilson. He can tell by the look on her face that she would prefer not to see his arm. "You can go, its OK."

"Really? You sure?" She asks him.

"Yes."

"Thanks," she says, kissing him lightly on the cheek before standing up. "I'll just be right outside the door."

As Mary walks to the door, she can feel Dr. Connelly's eyes following her the entire time. She puts her hand on the door, and turns around to give Wilson a final look, making sure that this was OK. Mary notices the doctor giving her a once over, eyeing her entire body. She walks out the door disgusted. Instead of just standing there, she decides to listen to them through the door. She couldn't help but thinking as she was doing this, though, that maybe Ruthie was rubbing off on her.

"Wow." Dr. Connelly says to Wilson. "She looks like she'd be good in the sack, eh?" He says, raising his eyebrows. 

Wilson had no clue how to react to that statement, and lucky for him, Mary burst through the door at that second. She runs straight in, and gets right in the doctor's face.

"Listen, Mister, you have no right to talk about me that way. I barely said two words to you, and you have me all figured out, don't you? You make me sick, you really do. Now, one more word out of your mouth regarding me, and I'll be out of here so fast complaining to anyone who will listen you won't believe it. Got it?" She yells, two inches from his face. Mary looks like she's going to slap him, and Wilson wouldn't blame her, but he really wishes she isn't going to.

"Ok, ok. Don't have a cow." He says, as Mary backs off. He turns and looks at Wilson. "So, how are you feeling?"

"Like I'm ready to go home." Wilson snaps.

"Everything seems to be fine, I think you can go now. I'll just go fill out the paperwork, and you'll be out of here in an hour- tops." He says sheepishly, trying to get out of the room and away from Mary as fast as possible.

"Thank you." Wilson says, and Dr. Connelly leaves.

Mary gets up and starts to pace back and forth around the room.

"I've had it, you know, I've really had it. I mean, he's a doctor, he's old, my boyfriend's in the hospital, and I told him you were my boyfriend! How much more of an idiot do you have to be?"

"I agree with you. He's a jerk."

"A major jerk." Mary says, finally sitting back down on the side of the bed. "But that's why I'm lucky to have you. You'd never do anything like that to me, or any woman. You're a real man, a gentleman."

"Why thank you." He says. "And Mare, I wanted to ask you before."

"Yes?"

"Are you better now?"

She smiles, "Yeah, thanks."

"Do you want to talk before we go back to your parents' house? I think we should."

"Not really." She says being completely honest. "Why, do you?"

"Kind of. But if you're not ready to, we can wait."

"I wish this would all just go away. I wish I could go away- bury myself in a hole and never come out."

"You don't mean that."

"Yes, I do."

"But the truth is, though, you can't bury yourself in a hole." Wilson says, picking up Mary's hand. "And this isn't going to go away either."

"I know, but I- just not right now, OK?"

"Ok." He says soothingly. Wilson leans in and kisses Mary lightly on the lips, and she returns the kiss. "But I don't understand Mare." He says after they pull away from each other "We've talked about difficult subjects before, and you were always so good at it, so mature."

"But this is different. This isn't just about us. It's about us, and my family, and Lucy, and everything. And I don't think I have the energy to do it right now."

"I think you're underestimating yourself."

Mary looks away from Wilson and tears stream down her face. He puts his hand on her shoulder, but she takes it off. She wipes her eyes, and stands up. "I'll be right back, OK?"

"Fine." He says sounding slightly frustrated. He really thought he was going to get through to her. But, of course it didn't work, and now she's mad at him.

Ten minutes later, Mary reenters the room. She sits on the bed, and lies down on top of Wilson. 

"I'm sorry." Wilson says to her. "Are you mad at me?" 

Mary shakes her head. "I'm mad at myself.  But I don't want to be alone right now, I need to be with you."

"I need to be with you, too, now more than ever."


	16. Chapter 15

Later, at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, Mary and Wilson are in Simon's room, lying down on the bed together. Matt and Sarah were coming in later today, and the whole house was a buzz; everyone eagerly awaiting their arrival. No one cared that Mary and Wilson were back home, and that upset Mary. To her, it was yet another slap in the face that they did not want her here. With every second that passed, she wondered more and more why she had come back to Glen Oak for Christmas. This was no longer home to her; home was in Ft. Lauderdale with Wilson. The only thing that was getting her through the day was Wilson. The two of them appeared to be joined at the hip- going downstairs for food together, constantly exhibiting public displays of affection throughout the house, lying together in a tangled web arm arms and legs. From the disgusted looks that Mary was getting from the rest of her family members, she could tell they didn't approve of her relationship with Wilson. She knew they all probably thought that they were sleeping together or something, and even more likely still thought that she's pregnant. Wilson was well aware that what they were doing wasn't good. Laying on top of each other all of the time could only lead to trouble. He kind of felt that he was leading Mary on by letting her think that this was all right, but he didn't say anything. He liked being with Mary, and he couldn't do much besides lay here right now, anyways. 

Mary tried very hard not to think about everything, though, and to just enjoy her time with Wilson. She squeezes him, bringing them closer together than they were before. Her attempt to clear her head fails, though. Instantly, Lucy ran through her mind. Mary knew that somebody had to be there for her now, but she didn't feel like the right person to fulfill those requirements. She thinks that Lucy probably blames her for everything- for making Kevin go to jail. She couldn't help but blame herself. If she could have controlled her urges with Wilson better, she wouldn't have been upstairs changing for Kevin to find her. Or better yet, if she never came here all together, everything would have been perfect. She didn't come home for herself. She came home for Wilson, to get his mid off of things, but more to get him help. She knew that her father could help him, but now that was out of the question. The whole family hated her, plus Robbie minus Ruthie.

"Are we going to have to go to court?" Mary asks, catching Wilson off guard.

"I, uh, I-I don't know." He tells her, honestly not knowing the answer to her question. After he gets the words out, he lets out a huge yawn.

Mary can't help but giggle. "Are you tired?" Wilson nods. "Its probably from the medication. They said you'd get drowsy." Mary sits upright. "You sleep, I'll go downstairs and mingle."

"Why don't you stay instead?"

"Because then you won't get any sleep, and you need your rest." Mary kisses Wilson ardently.

"Now how do you expect me to sleep after a kiss like that?" Mary blushes, and opens the door. "I won't be down there too long, don't worry."

"Word of advice?" Wilson says, his eyes starting to droop. "When you go to 'mingle', try and be happy. It's Christmas, smile."

Mary grins widely to spite him, and walks out. She walks down the stairs that lead to the kitchen, and finds Ruthie with the twins.

"Hey. What are you guys doing?"

"Where your boyfriend?" Sam asks her.

"Yeah. Where is he?" says David.

"He's upstairs taking a nap. He's really tired." She says in a sweet voice as she sits down in the chair next to Ruthie.

"Is Wilson OK?" Ruthie asks.

"Yeah. He's just drowsy from the medication."

"Well, let me be the first to say that I'm glad you're down here with us rather than up there with Wilson. I mean, he's nice and all, but you're with us for a week, less than that now. You live with him. I want to spend some time with you; I miss having you around."

"Well, its nice to be missed, by someone at least."

"So why don't you spend some time with us and play Candy Land?"

"I'm yellow!" Mary says, reaching across the table for the yellow plastic gingerbread man.

The four of them play for a little while. Mary notices quickly that both Sam and David cheat beyond belief- going 5 boxes when they are only supposed to move two. Mary remembers playing this game with Matt when they were both little. Mary even recalls folding the card with the princess from the top of the board on it. She would always set up the cards herself and count the cards so that she would get that one. More times than not, though, she counted out the cards wrong, and Matt ended up getting it. She and Matt used to have so much fun together. They were crazy when Matt was 5 and Mary was 3, according to her mother.

"When is Matt supposed to get here?"

"His flight gets in at 2:30."

Mary did exactly what Wilson told her to do. She put a smile on her face and a spring in her step, and now she was actually excited to see Matt. Just as Mary was beginning to feel proud of herself, Lucy walked into kitchen.

"Mom wants me to bring the boys upstairs." Lucy says to Ruthie.

"Ok." The two of them respond. Each of them gets up and grabs one of Lucy's hands. 

In a split second decision, Mary decides to go for it. "Luce, let me help you bring them upstairs. Then we can talk."

"About what?" she asks, rudely.

"Everything."

"I don't think we have anything to talk about."

Mary tries to remain calm. "Well, then can you listen to me talk? I have a couple of things I'd like to bounce off you."

"Why me and not Wilson?"

"Because you're my sister." Mary says smiling on the outside. On the inside, though, she was breaking. Her worst fear was coming true, and she did not like it one bit.

"Mary, please, don't make this harder than it already it." Lucy says, turning around and walking up the stairs with the twins.

"She didn't mean that." Ruthie says, trying to console her.

"Yeah," Mary says, trying to humor her little sister. "She's probably just really upset." Just because Mary felt farther away from her family than she had ever been does not mean that she had to make Ruthie feel awful as well. Mary sits there for two minutes next to Ruthie saying nothing, not moving, barely breathing. She felt lower than low, worse than she has ever felt in her life. Her mother comes down the stairs, and walks over to the two of them. Peculiarly, she hugs Ruthie tightly for no reason.

"My little girl." Annie says, clutching her daughter. "I love you, you know that, right?"

"Yes." Ruthie answers, "and I love you too."

Annie then walks over to the fridge. Mary has to bite her tongue to refrain from screaming out "Where's my hug?". She says nothing though, because she figures it would make her sound like she is three again. Oh, what she would give to be the little girl she used to be, playing Candy Land with her older brother. But now, She's an adult woman, with a boyfriend. A screw up, no good adult with a boyfriend, but an adult nonetheless.

Mary gets up with saying a word, and walks upstairs to check on Wilson. At the top of the stairs, she runs into Lucy. The two stare at each other, before walking past. Mary opens the door to Simon's room, and looks in on Wilson. He is fast asleep, and looks so peaceful. She walks in and kisses Wilson's forehead, hoping he would come to. He doesn't, so she leaves. 

Mary walks downstairs and outside to the back porch. She sits down, leaning against the pillar. She feels so awful, and begins to sob uncontrollably. More time goes by then she realizes, though, and the back door opens and Matt sits down next to Mary.

"Hey." He says to her.

Quickly, she wipes her eyes. "Hi," she says with a sniffle. "How was your flight?"

"Not bad. What are you doing out here?"

"Nothing, just thinking."

"About what?"

"Everything."

"Like…"

"No offense, but I'm really not in the mood for a lecture."

"OK." He replies. "Then why don't you come inside and say hello to Sarah."

"Is everyone else inside?"

"No, just Sarah and Ruthie."

Mary stands, and so does Matt. The two of them walk inside together. Upon seeing Mary, Sarah greets her with a hug. Sarah's arm pushes up against the cut on Mary's arm, and she winces in pain.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch." She repeats.

Sarah pulls back. "Did I hurt you?" She asks confused.

"Well you kind of touched my arm."

"Yeah, and?"

"Oh, you guys don't know?"

"Know what?" Matt asks.

"About Kevin and-"

"We know that, but what's wrong with your arm?" Matt inquires.

"Oh, its nothing, never mind."

Matt touches Mary's arm where Sarah did before. 

"Ow! What did you do that for?" Mary says, stepping away from him.

"Its not nothing. Tell me."

"The bullet went through Wilson's arm and then grazed mine before hitting into the wall."

"Wilson, that's your boyfriend, right?" Sarah asks her.

"Yeah."

"Where is he?"

"He's upstairs taking a nap. He's sleepy from the pain medication they gave him at the hospital."

"Oh." Sarah responds. "Well, when he wakes up I would love to meet him."

"You know what, he's been sleeping for a while. And if I know Wilson, he's probably up by now. Let me go see, I'll be right back." Mary says.


	17. Chapter 16

Mary walks upstairs, and into the room Wilson is in. She opens the door, and finds Wilson sitting on the bed staring into space. He does not notice she is there, so Mary stands there for a while, entranced. After a little while, he looks up and sees her.

"Hey." She says to him, walking closer.

"Come here," he says, pulling her down to his lap. Mary sits on top of him, and places her head on the shoulder of his good arm.

"Did you sleep OK?"

"Yeah, I did actually."

"Good. How's your arm?"

"Not too bad." He lies, and then moves in to kiss Mary on the lips. As he does so, he can taste the salt of her tears in her mouth. "What's wrong?" he asks her.

"Why do you think something's wrong?" Wilson just stares back at her. "I'm fine, honest."

"Then why do you seem so sad?"

"I'm not sad!" she protests.

"OK." Wilson says, not sounding convinced in the least. "You know, I don't know why you're lying to me."

Mary thinks for a second. She didn't know why she was lying to him either. All she knew was that she didn't want to tell him things she wasn't sure of herself. She kisses him, trying to get off of this topic. Wilson leans into the kiss, but quickly pulls away.

"Don't think that you're going to get away that easy." He says smiling.

"I can try, though, can't I?" she asks just before kissing him once more. Her hands go to his face as his run down her side stopping at the small of her back. Mary pushes him back onto the bed, and lies on top of him, never breaking the kiss. She is careful not to hurt Wilson's arm, inadvertently pushing her hips into his to support the weight of her body. Wilson moans slightly and uses all of his self-discipline not to do something he would later regret. 

As things start to escalate even farther, there is a knock at the door. Wilson tries to pull away, so that Mary could answer the door, but she pins him down to the bed. She has no intentions of answering the door.

Wilson pulls away for a second. "Get that," he manages to get out before Mary's lips capture his once more.

"They'll leave." Mary says in between kisses.

They knock again on the door, this time harder.

"Mary? Can I come in for a second?" She can barely hear her father's voice as she continues to make out with Wilson, concentrating more on her sense of touch rather than sound.

She groans, and gets off of Wilson, helping him sit up as well. She smiles at him, teasingly, as she goes to open the door.

"Family meeting, downstairs, now." her father tells her.

"Who's in trouble?" Mary says on instinct. She immediately assumed the meeting was called to get her to leave.

"No one's in trouble. This meeting is about me."

"Are you OK? Are you sick? Is it your heart again?" She asks him so quickly her words are jumbled together.

"I'm fine, I just want to talk to everyone. Now come down stairs," he tells her. "And you too, Wilson." He adds, peeking his head around his daughter to put the 24-year-old man into his line of sight.

"But-"

"No buts. Besides, I think you've spent enough quality time with Wilson for one day. It won't kill to spend some time with your eyes on us rather than him."

Mary smiles. "OK Dad. We'll be down in a minute." She says, closing the door once more. She goes back over to the bed, and sits down next to Wilson. "Now, where were we?"

"Wait. Aren't we going downstairs?"

"We don't have to."

"Yes we do. You just told your father we would."

"Yeah, but this is a lot better." Mary leans in to kiss him, but Wilson puts his finger to her lips, stopping her.

"What do you think that's all about?"

"I don't know." Mary answers. "But if you really want to know, I guess we could go find out."

Mary and Wilson approach the living room to find everyone sitting waiting for them.

"Sorry." Mary says, taking the empty spot on the couch next to Lucy. Lucy scoots away from Mary, staring at her evilly. Mary takes notice to this, but says nothing. She takes the hand of Wilson sitting next to her, and places it in her lap. Lucy looks at the two of them, disgusted, and gets up. She stands next to her mother, who places an arm around Lucy. The two of them look scornfully at Mary and Wilson.

Wilson and Mary exchange glances. Wilson can tell in that split second when their eyes meet that this was bothering Mary, more then he could ever fully grasp. He squeezes her hand, trying to get her attention, but her eyes immediately go to the floor.

"Well, I wanted to tell you all that as of Sunday, I will be officially back at the church." Eric starts. No one seems enthused or concerned, so he continues. "I'm going to be giving my first sermon since October, and I'd like you all to be there."

"Wouldn't miss it for anything." Matt says.

"Ditto." Ruthie says.

"Yeah." Simon adds.

"I'll be there," says Robbie.

"Thanks." Reverend Camden says. "And, on a different note, I know that we're all going through a tough time right now. Some of us more than others…" he says, staring at Lucy, "but this isn't easy on any of us. It's scary when you trust someone and they, um, turn on you."

"But they don't just suddenly snap for no reason Eric. Something had to happen for him to act this way." Annie says, surprising everyone. The whole group turns and stares directly at Mary. She looks toward Wilson for comfort, but he doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know how to assess the situation.

"Wilson can't help you." Lucy says angrily. "Besides, he's not the one we're all angry at. He hasn't done anything, at least anything you haven't forced him into doing."

"What did I do?" Mary asks, her eyes starting to tear up.

"What haven't you done?!" Lucy screams at her. Mary looks around to the rest of her family, and can tell by the looks on their faces they all feel the same way.

"You know what, fine." Mary says standing up, full out bawling. "I've tried and tried and tried for you guys to treat me the way you should be treating me, like a normal human being, but I give up. I don't understand why you all still think I'm such a screw up. I'm not perfect, but neither are any of you, and if you want to continuously toot your own horn, then fine. I'm out of here. I don't know why I came back here to begin with." Mary runs out the front door, and slams it loudly behind her. She climbs into her car, and drives away. She doesn't know where she is headed, and can barely see through her tears, so she slowly starts to drive down the street, and out into the heart of GlenOak.

Wilson stands up, not sure of what to do. "I, uh, I…"

"Come on Wilson," Matt says standing up next to him. "Let's go and get her. " Wilson nods. "You know," Matt says to his family, "She's been upset over all of you the entire day. And I think she has enough to worry about without always having to consider if you guys will continue to stand by her. She's your sister, your daughter, it should be a given. Didn't you guys learn your lesson when she came home last year?! Why do we always have to chase her away?!" Matt screams, then walks out the door, Wilson on his heels.

Mary has no clue where to go, but decides to head to the church. At least her father won't come looking for her there. She pulls into the parking lot, and continues to sob. She was really lost, and she didn't even have Wilson with her to help. She had to go through this all by herself, and she isn't strong enough. So much has happened to her in the past six months that she hasn't had enough time to adjust. First she moved to Fort Lauderdale, then she broke up with Jack. The next thing she knew, she was back together with Wilson, trying to keep his mind off of Billy, while attempting to strengthen their relationship for the fourth time. Now she's in GlenOak, her family hates her, and the love of her life was just shot at by her sister's soon-to-be-fiancé. Mary's sense of self isn't strong enough to tackle two of these problems at once, let alone all seven. She can't do it anymore. She needs some time to help herself.

As she continues to think, now about how she is going to apologize for this mistake, a car pulls up next to hers. She sees it's the family van, and is pleasantly surprised to see Matt and Wilson inside. Wilson gets out of the van and gets into Mary's car, clutching her closely as soon as he sits down inside. 

"Why didn't you tell me that's what you were upset about? I could have helped you."

Mary doesn't answer- she doesn't have an answer to give him. She just continues to cry as Wilson draws her closer. After about ten minutes, Matt knocks on the car window. Mary turns around, and Matt opens the door. He bends down and hugs his sister, trying to ease her pain. 

"I love you. And forget all of them. You're right, you shouldn't have to try that hard for them to like you. So don't, and let them figure out what they're missing." Matt tells her, not expecting a response. He looks towards Wilson. "You can drive her home, right?" Wilson nods. Matt says goodbye, and leaves Mary and Wilson alone in her car.

Mary starts to calm down, and finally speaks. "I want to go home, home as in Ft. Lauderdale. They don't want to be around me, and I don't want to be around them. I've tried for the last time. They can apologize all they want, it isn't going to do anything. They've had their last chance."

"You don't really mean that, do you?"

"Yes, I do. This is the way they always seem to treat me, except this time it was really bad."

"But they're your family. You love them."

"I do love my family, but those people aren't my family. My family wouldn't treat me like that."

"Yeah, well-" Wilson can't even finish because Mary starts to cry again. Wilson kisses Mary's lips benevolently, and continues to kiss her for nearly a half an hour. "Let's go home." Wilson tells her after she seems to have subdued.

"But-"

"No buts. I'm driving you home and you're going to settle all of this. I'll help you."

"I'm so sorry for dragging you into the middle of this."

"Don't worry about it. I'm your boyfriend, it comes with the territory."

Mary and Wilson switch seats, so that Wilson's sitting in the driver's side. He starts up the car and pulls out of the church parking lot, and heads in the direction of the Camden home. As they take the five minute drive to the house, both of them wonder if things will ever obtain any sort of "normalcy"- between Mary and the Camdens or even Mary and Wilson as lovers. Wilson didn't know how he was going to fix this _wonderful_ mess Mary had managed to get herself into, but he was sure going to try. Things would never be the exact same at the Camden house again, but isn't change the spice of life?

The End ***I know that I posted earlier that I was going to put an epilogue to this story, but I have no incentive to finish it. I wrote about four chapters of it, but I don't want to finish it. So, in case you are wondering, I'm not. Maybe one day I might, but in all honesty I don't plan to. Sorry. 


End file.
